The province of Tarragona faces a sustained rise in temperatures from this week due to the entry of a powerful warm anticyclone associated with a dome or heat dome pattern. Forecasts point to highs above 30 ºC in several points of the interior and an episode that could last for a good part of next week.
The most striking feature is not just the thermal rebound in May, but its continuity. Francisco Martín, meteorologist and collaborator of Meteored, defines the situation as exceptional due to its intensity, extent, and duration, and warns that it could even extend until early June.
The inland regions will exceed 30 ºC for several days
Meteocat places the highest readings in Baix Ebre, Ribera d'Ebre, Terra Alta, and Priorat, where thermometers will exceed 30 ºC. In the rest of the province, highs will remain between 26 and 28 ºC, also above the usual values for these dates.
The change will also be noticeable at night. Minimum temperatures will rise to 15 and 16 ºC, in a peninsular context where there is already a warning for possible tropical nights with values above 20 ºC.
The persistence of the episode points to an early start to meteorological summer in May, with several consecutive days of heat both in the interior and in a large part of the Tarragona coast and pre-coast.
The anticyclone also leaves anomalies of up to 15 degrees in half of Europe
The same high-pressure system does not only affect Tarragona. Portugal, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the British Isles are also under this configuration, with thermal anomalies between five and 15 degrees above normal.
Francisco Martín frames the episode within a broad atmospheric pattern, with persistent and widespread heat in Western Europe. In Tarragona, this evolution coincides with the final stretch of May and displaces an environment typical of the beginning of summer to earlier dates.
In addition to the daytime rise, the forecast reinforces the continuity of the episode. The heat will persist for a good part of next week and, according to Francisco Martín, could even be maintained until early June.