The Iberian Oven

METEOROLOGISTS in Spain are forecasting that the summer of 2023 will experience similar heat to last year, but with sporadic bouts of abundant storms and rainfall.

According to Mar Gómez, from eltiempo.es: “We could have a summer quite similar to last year in terms of temperatures.” She added though that it will vary in terms of rainfall, since: “last year was not rainy, but this year we anticipate that it will rain more.”

The weather expert’s prediction was backed up by Juan Jesús González Alemán, a meteorologist with AEMET, the State Meteorological Agency.

This meteorological phenomenon will occur more this summer due to the: “arrival of several DANAs and troughs causing stormy activity,” he indicated.

Although it is still too early for the experts to be certain, they pointed out that these severe storms may even develop in the form of hail.

This modality is: “more common in spring,” explained Gómez, but: “if we have a very hot and rainy summer, there may be episodes of hail because severe storms form,” she added.

González Alemán further explained that it is going to be rainy this summer because: “a blockade will prevail over the Scandinavian region.”

This ‘Scandinavian blockade’ is an atmospheric phenomenon by which: “the normal position of the air masses in a region is reversed, placing the warm air closer to the pole than the cold air,” indicated the AEMET on its website.

As a result, this powerful anticyclone located over that area of Scandinavia would be responsible for the storms moving further south on the European continent they detailed.

The rains that are expected will increase the humidity in the environment and together with the heat will cause a feeling of muggy weather.