Aemet warns of arrival of storms in several parts of Spain this weekend

The heat is affecting all of Spain intensely this week, with temperatures above normal for this time of year, while there have also been episodes of thunderstorms in some provinces. A situation of instability that will continue over the next few days, as the state meteorological agency (Aemet) warns.

Aemet has announced that this weekend several regions will be on alert for rain and storms, especially on Sunday, when they will be particularly heavy due to the "approach of a weather system from the Atlantic".

The instability in much of Spain will take place as the heat peak of the week arrives, with thermometers soaring to over 40 C in some provinces. However, despite the anomaly for this time of year, this will not yet be the first heatwave.

For this Friday, 20 June, the Aemet has put nine regions communities under a warning for "locally strong thunderstorms and showers". These are Andalucía, Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Galicia, Murcia, La Rioja and Valencia.

Instability will arrive in the afternoon, with abundant clouds evolving with showers and thunderstorms of greater intensity in the central and northern mountains, while in the inland areas of the eastern third and the extreme north of the country they could be locally strong.

Storms and rain will continue over the weekend. They will be "locally heavy in inland areas of the eastern third and in the extreme north of the peninsula" on Saturday, in Aragon, some areas of Castilla y León, the Basque Country and La Rioja. Across the rest of Spain, skies will be partly cloudy or clear.

However, Aemet warns of the "approach of a weather system from the Atlantic" on Sunday. This will "favour an increase in instability" and will leave showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon in large areas of the north-eastern half of the Spanish mainland and the far north, which will be more intense in the north-eastern third, with the possibility of heavy rain in the Pyrenees and around the Iberian system.

In the next few days, we will reach the heat peak of the week, with temperatures that will remain around 12C above normal for this time of year. Andalucía, Aragon, Catalonia and Extremadura will be under an amber heat warning these days.

This Friday, thermometers will remain high in most of the southern half and the north-eastern third of the Spanish mainland, in the northern plateau and in points of the extreme northwest and the Cantabrian Sea, while they will fall in Huelva and northern Galicia.

Therefore, temperatures are expected to exceed 38-40C in depressions in the northeast and in large areas of the southern half of the Atlantic slope. Specifically, Zaragoza, Seville and Cordoba will reach 40 degrees , while Badajoz, Cáceres, Granada, Lleida, Murcia and Toledo will have highs of 38 degrees.

This intense heat will continue throughout the weekend in most of Spain, especially on Saturday, when thermometers will exceed 38-40C in parts of the northeast and southeast and in large areas of the southern half of the Atlantic slope, as reported by the Aemet, which warns that Zaragoza will reach a 41C high on this day.

As for Sunday, maximum temperatures are forecast to drop in most of the Spanish mainland, with some increases in regions in the extreme northwest. At the start of next week we could see some relief in the thermometers, which will give the country a slight respite.