Climate of Spain

The Csa hot-summer Mediterranean climate is found on most of the Mediterranean coast of Spain starting from the border with Portugal to the border with France, with a few exceptions. It also extends inland in Andalusia and Extremadura. It is characterized by hot dry summers and mild winters with infrequent frosts in inland locations with this climate.[6] The summers are hot, the winters are mild and most of precipitation falls in the autumn. Examples of cities with Csa climate are Malaga, Valencia, Palma or Seville.

The Csb warm-summer Mediterranean climate is found in Galicia and the western areas of Castilla y Leon. Coastal Mediterranean region is marked by Leveche winds: hot, dry, easterly or southeasterly air currents that originate over North Africa. Periods of these winds, which sometimes carry fine Saharan dust, are more common in spring and are associated with a sudden, usually short-lived, increase in temperature. A cooler easterly wind, the Levante, funnels between the Sistema Penibetico and the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. These easterly winds are the ones which most influence the Mediterranean climate. The most populous city with Csb climate in Spain is Vigo. Other cities with this climate are Ávila, León or Salamanca.

The inland areas of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Central Plateau, have a Csa or Csb Mediterranean climates with greater seasonal differences than the coast. The summers are usually hotter than in the coast, regularly exceeding 35 °C (95 °F). By contrast, there are low temperatures in winter, from cool to cold winters, with temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) not being uncommon. At cities with altitude above 1000m like Álava or Segovia, the temperatures under −5 °C (23 °F) are not uncommon, dropping up to −10 °C (14 °F) or more during Arctic cold waves.[8] The cold increases the higher the altitude is. These are often accompanied by moderate snowfall. Although it rarely rains during summer, there is often heavy rainfall in spring and autumn. Cities with this climate are Madrid, Ciudad Real, Logroño, and Ávila.

An oceanic climate prevails from the Pyrenees to the Asturias, area which incorporating Galicia is sometimes called "Green Spain", characterized by relatively mild winters and warm summers. The climate and landscape are determined by the Atlantic Ocean winds whose moisture gets trapped by the mountains circumventing the Spanish Atlantic coast. Because of the Foehn effect, the southern slopes fall inside the rain shadow zone and so Green Spain contrasts starkly with the rest of Spain. Besides both the winters and the summers remain much warmer than many comparable North-west European regions (about 21 °C (69.8 °F) in July in Santander versus 16 °C (60.8 °F) in Brest or Liverpool and about 10 °C (50.0 °F) in January in Santander versus 6 to 7 °C (42.8 to 44.6 °F) in Brest or 5 °C (41.0 °F) in Liverpool). The rainfall is generally abundant, exceeding 1,000 mm (39.4 in) and is fairly evenly spread out over the year, with the driest month above 30 mm (1.2 in), which is the minimum criteria for an oceanic climate according to Köppen. Although Köppen officially limits the oceanic domain to the Asturias and the Basque Country region, certain authors such as Trewartha prefer to extend this climatic zone to the north-west part of the peninsula to Galicia, due to the moderate summer temperatures.

Temperatures vary only slightly, both on a diurnal and a seasonal basis, and averages range from 9 °C (48.2 °F) in January to 21 °C (69.8 °F) in July. The moderating effects of the sea are less prominent further inland, where temperatures are more extreme than those on the coast. Distance from the Atlantic Ocean also has an effect on precipitation levels, so there is less rainfall in the east than in the west. Autumn (October to December) is the wettest season, while July is the driest month. The high humidity and the prevailing off-shore winds make fog and mist common along the north west coast; this phenomenon is less frequent a short distance inland because the mountains form a barrier to the maritime moisture.

The humid subtropical climate exists in large areas of north-eastern Spain, mostly in the northern half of Catalonia and the province of Huesca. This climate is also found across northern Navarra and the northern areas of the province of Guadalajara. The largest city with this climate in Spain is Barcelona.

The semiarid climate (BSk and BSh in the Köppen climate classification) is predominant in south-eastern Spain (covering most of Alicante, Murcia and Almería provinces), and in certain parts of the Ebro Valley. It is also present in parts of the centre, south and west of the country which borders between a Mediterranean and semi-arid climate. It is very hot during the summer (temperatures can exceed 40 °C (104 °F) and the drought usually extends into the autumn (rainfall about 300 mm – [15]).

The desert climate exists in a few zones of the south-eastern coast of Spain and in eastern parts of the Canary Islands. Within mainland Spain, it appears predominantly in Almería, with the city of Almería falling under the hot desert climate categorization (Köppen: BWh) as the average temperature is 19.1 °C and the average precipitation is approximately 200mm.[16] This area extends to the Andarax and Almanzora river valleys and the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, which are also known for having also a hot desert climate (Köppen: BWh), with a precipitation amount of 156 mm (6.1 in) per year[17] which is reportedly the driest place in Europe. The desert climate exists in other areas of the southeast, such as the Tabernas Desert, which has an annual average temperature of 17.9 °C placing it just 0.1 °C below under the categorization of hot desert climate (Köppen: BWh), so it has a cold desert climate (Köppen: BWk). It also exists in areas of Murcia and specific points inland of the province of Alicante.[18]

Besides the above three major climate zones, there are four other climate types in Spain:

• The mountainous climate is present in the Picos de Europa, Sistema Central, Sistema Ibérico, Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada, qualified as an Alpine climate, Spain's major mountain systems.
• The low-lying areas of the Canary Islands have a tropical climate in terms of temperature, this being mild and stable (18 to 26 °C or 64 to 79 °F) throughout the year. Most of the islands have hot desert climates or hot semi-arid climates, and a low altitude areas have tropical semi-arid climates, like the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria or La Palma which surpass 18 °C or 64 °F in the coldest month, meeting the requeriments for tropical climates under the Köppen climate classification.[19] In terms of precipitation, the eastern islands are semiarid while the westernmost ones receive more rainfall, with some very wet areas in the mountains of La Gomera, La Palma and Tenerife, home to the cloud forest known as laurisilva. The easternmost islands are arid with Saharan climate moderated by the Atlantic Ocean.

The southernmost coast of Spain (Malaga and Granada's coastal strip) has the warmest winters across Europe, with very sunny and mostly warm days with total absence of winter frosts allowing for the prolific cultivation of tropical fruits such as mango, papaya, cherimoya. pitaya and the carambola, amongst others.[20] The benign winter, with minimum night temperatures in January rarely falling below 5 °C (46 °F) is due to the microclimate created by the Sierra Nevada mountains to the north of this coastal strip, preventing cooler north winds from reaching the area.

Parts of the south East coast also have a Hot Arid climate, with annual average temperatures above 18 °C and annual rainfall below 200mm. Almeria province is the only area in Europe within this climatic zone.

The records of temperatures in Spain have been, −32 °C (−26 °F) in Lago Estangento in the Pyrenees (Lleida) for the coldest, for the hottest 47 °C (117 °F) in Seville and Écija.[22]

• Climate of Barcelona
• Climate of Valencia
• Climate of Madrid
• Climate of Bilbao
• Climate of Gibraltar
• Wave height
• Western Mediterranean oscillation