Malaga province escapes Spain's second official heatwave of the summer, although minimum temperatures are high

The weather in Malaga will be a mixed bag this week. Although the province is one of the very few spared a heatwave warning, when practically the whole of the Iberian peninsula is painted yellow, amber and red, nighttime minimum temperatures will make for torrid nights of at least 25C.

Malaga city and the Costa del Sol have no warning for high maximum temperatures. The only part of the province with a yellow warning on Tuesday, 12 August, is the Antequera district, where temperatures could reach 39-40C.

Thanks to the mild easterly wind, Malaga city and the coast remain within the usual range, between 31C and 33C, even in the middle of August and amid the second official heatwave this summer - a far cry from the 44C and above in some inland areas in Andalucía and the country as a whole.

What makes coastal conditions difficult to bear are the high levels of humidity and the torrid nights, which will last throughout this week. The highest nighttime and dawn minimum temperature is expected on Tuesday, with 27C. Sleeping without a fan or air conditioning will be tough.

According to state meteorological agency Aemet, the rest of the week will be only 1-2C milder, with a minimum of 26C on Wednesday and 25C on Thursday.

What is a 'torrid' night? It is when the minimum temperature doesn't go below 25C, which is worse than a 'tropical' night, when the minimum is between 20-25C, but better than a 'hellish' night, with no less than 30C, according to Spanish weather terminology.

Malaga's annual fair falls exactly during this period of hot nights. On the night of the fireworks (Friday), the minimum temperature will be 25C, but at least the maximum over the weekend will not exceed the 33C forecast for Sunday.

Expert of meteorology and author of SUR's 'Tormentas y Rayos' blog José Luis Escudero has analysed the data from the official Aemet thermometers - at the airport and at the port - accumulated since 3 August, when the second heatwave started. He confirmed what was expected - the minimum temperature close to the sea on Monday night did not go below 25C. The airport registered a slight decrease to 24.4C. The sea water temperature was around 27C.

According to Luis Escudero's estimates, there were three days during the heatwave so far when the minimum temperature at the port exceeded 25C at dawn - 6, 8 and 11 August. Only one such morning was registered at the airport - 8 August.

The expert's report confirms that Malaga has been an oasis compared to the rest of Spain since the beginning of this month, getting nowhere near the heatwave values recorded in inland areas.

The rest of Andalucía and large parts of Spain have been a melting pot of red, amber and yellow warnings. Only a few provinces have been spared during this long heatwave, which has been going on for ten consecutive days.

For Tuesday, Aemet has activated a red warning in Seville province, where a maximum of 44C is expected between 1pm and 9pm. Meanwhile, almost the whole of inland Andalucía will be amber, especially rural Cordoba, where 43-44C are expected.