Barcelona (EFE).- Catalonia has suffered the second month of March with higher temperatures, only surpassed by that of 2001, although the Ebro Observatory, with 118 years of data, recorded the absolute record on March 11 and 12 minimum temperature in a month of March.
It has also been one of the driest months of March in Catalonia, which has aggravated the drought situation suffered by the community.
According to the balance made today by the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC), with some exceptions, in Catalonia as a whole, the average temperature for the month of March has not exceeded the warmest precedent for this month, which was that of 2001, partly because the month began with a few cold days, which later turned into a heat more typical of June, with temperatures reaching 30ºC at the end of the month.
The first days of March were cold in Catalonia, with a record minimum temperature in a month of March in 2 of the 114 stations of the Network of Automatic Meteorological Stations (XEMA) that have more than 20 years of data.
The Constantí (Tarragona) weather station, with 32 years of data, broke its record with -4.5 ºC on day 1, surpassing -3.7 ºC on March 11, 2010, while in El Vendrell (Tarragona), with 23 years of data, it registered -2.6 ºC and exceeded -1.9 ºC on March 10, 2010.
In addition, some stations in Ponent measured the coldest early morning in winter and in Santa Coloma Queralt (Tarragona) the lowest minimum since 2018 was reached, with -5.9 ºC.
However, as of March 9, the temperature rose in such a way that the maximum exceeded 25 °C in a good part of Catalonia, with 29.2 °C in Cabanes (Girona) and records in a month of March concentrated in points from the coast and from the interior, although in general in March 2001 it was hotter.
This March, 14 of the 149 stations of the Automatic Network of Meteorological Stations and the Network of Meteorological Observers with more than 20 years of data equaled or exceeded their highest temperature in a month of March.
The night temperature was especially high for the time in the southern half of Catalonia, where the minimum exceeded 15 °C at dawn on the 10th in some sectors of the Costa Dorada, while on the 11th and 12th it was between 15 and 20 °C in a good part of the southern half of the coast and pre-coastal.
The Ebro Observatory in Roquetes (Tarragona) measured a minimum of 18.4 °C at dawn on the 11th, and 18.8 °C on the 12th, exceeding twice the highest minimum temperature in a March of its 118 years data, so far 17.3 °C on March 31, 2015.
Regarding the meteorological stations, 31 of the 113 stations with more than 20 years of data located mainly on the Central and South coast and pre-coastal and in the Pla de Lleida recorded their highest daily minimum temperature in a month of March.
The Barcelona radiosonde station measured a temperature of 14.4 °C on the 11th at a reference level of 850 hPa (about 1,500 meters of altitude), a very high value for the first half of March, but still far from the record. March 18.8 °C on the morning of March 24, 2001.
In the last days of the month, from the 29th to the 31st, the temperature was once again quite high for the time, especially on the last day of the month, when the west wind raised the temperature to the south of the pre-coastal and especially the coast, with maximums up to 10 °C higher than the previous day at points on the Costa Dorada.
30°C was reached for the first time this year in Catalonia, specifically in Baix Ebre, with 31.1°C at the Ebro Observatory or 30.0°C in Aldover, with record maximum temperatures in a month of March in 4 of the 114 automatic stations with more than 20 years of data, located on the Costa Dorada and in the Ebro delta.
