Roberto Brasero warns: the heat intensifies again and next week peaks close to 40 ºC are expected

Meteorologist Roberto Brasero has announced that, after the drop in temperatures recorded in recent days, the extreme heat episode has not ended. Although this weekend will bring some relief in some areas, especially in the Cantabrian region, the trend will change again starting next week, with a new thermal rebound that will bring values close to or above 40 ºC in several areas of the country.

At the moment, despite the retreat of the heatwave, the heat remains intense in the peninsular northeast, where yellow level warnings are maintained in communities such as La Rioja, Navarra, Catalonia, Aragon, and the Balearic Islands. Added to this is a high risk of forest fires, which in some areas reaches extreme levels. In Aragon, in addition, especially high temperatures have been recorded, with values above 38 ºC in towns such as Quinto (Zaragoza) or Híjar (Teruel), in a context also complicated by the appearance of fires, such as the one recorded in Tamarite de Litera (Huesca), where thousands of hectares have already burned.

A weekend of contrasts: temperatures drop in the north and rise in the rest

Saturday will bring a thermal drop in the Cantabrian region, accompanied by cloudy skies and generally light rains. Some stormy showers are also expected in northern mountain areas, as well as in areas of Teruel or Cuenca during the afternoon. On the Mediterranean coast, especially in Murcia and Alicante, morning mists could appear and quickly disappear.

In the rest of the country, stable weather will prevail, with a slight rise in temperatures. In the northern plateau, maximums of between 32 and 34 ºC are expected, while in many other areas, 35 ºC will be exceeded. In points of the Ebro valley, the south of Castilla-La Mancha and the Guadalquivir valley, 38 ºC will be reached, and in the Balearic Islands, Palma could approach 36 ºC. In the Canary Islands, the heat will begin to intensify towards Sunday, with values close to 30 ºC in the south of the most mountainous islands.

Unstable Sunday with strong storms in the northeast

Sunday will be marked by instability. From early hours, cloudy skies are expected in Galicia and the Cantabrian region, with light but persistent rains. In the afternoon, the situation will worsen in many areas of the interior and peninsular northeast, where storms will develop that could be locally strong.

These storms will especially affect Navarra, Aragon, the east of the southern plateau and the interior of the Valencian Community, with the possibility of extending towards the northwest of Murcia. In some cases, they could be accompanied by intense wind gusts, very strong downpours and even large hail. In the rest of the country, the weather will be more stable, with partly cloudy or clear skies.

Strong heat returns next week

After this episode of instability, temperatures will clearly rise again from the beginning of next week. On Tuesday, temperatures will already exceed 35 ºC in most of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands, with the exception of the northern third, where values will remain between 25 and 30 ºC, and the Mediterranean area, where they will range between 30 and 35 ºC.

In the Ebro valley and in large areas of the central and southern peninsula, temperatures will again exceed 38 ºC, and occasionally could reach or exceed 40 ºC in the Guadiana and Guadalquivir valleys. There will also be intense heat in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, where temperatures in the south of Gran Canaria could exceed 38 ºC.

Without becoming a heatwave, everything indicates that the episode will again leave very high temperatures in a large part of the country.