At long last: rain and falling temperatures usher in Spain’s autumn

After a long and grueling summer in Spain that has seen temperatures remain extremely high well into September, autumn finally made its presence felt on Tuesday.

Over the coming days, temperatures are expected to fall sharply across much of the peninsula, with heavy rainfall due in the country’s far north and western third, while Valencia and Catalonia will also see significant downpours, according to forecasts by Spanish state meteorological agency AEMET.

In July the municipality of Montoro, in Córdoba province, took top position with a sweltering 15 straight days above 40°C

The agency has issued weather alerts for a total of 24 Spanish provinces, warning of storms, high winds, rainfall and heavy seas while people have been warned to take extra care on the country’s roads.

Only the Balearic and Canary Islands, along with the extreme south-east of the country, are predicted to stay dry as a cold front sweeps across the country from west to east.

The cold front comes hot on the heels of a heatwave that saw temperatures soar into the mid-40s in southern Spain in the first week of September.

The mercury topped out at 45.4°C in the town of Las Cabezas de San Juan, in Seville province on September 5, while a record September temperature of 45.1°C was registered at Cordoba airport on the same day.

The highest temperature on record last month was 41.7°C in Malaga on August 4, with the southwestern city of Badajoz also notching up the same figure three days later. In July the municipality of Montoro, in Córdoba province, took top position with a sweltering 15 straight days above 40°C.

English version by George Mills.