Spain saw its hottest January ever: 2.4C above average

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain just saw its hottest January on record, the country’s meteorological agency Aemet confirmed on Wednesday.

In terms of the median temperature for the entire month, the country smashed its previous record, set in 1961, by 0.4C.

Peninsular Spain also saw “extremely hot” temperatures for this time of year, according to Aemet – a whopping 2.4C above average. In the Canary Islands, the temperatures soared 3.1C above average.

Dozens of records for daily highs in January were also broken. In Granada, for instance, it reached a summer-like temperature of 26.8C (80.24F), while on the island of Gran Canaria, temperatures topped 30C (86F).

Data also shows that peninsular Spain saw more rainfall than normal. But as Aemet spokesperson Ruben del Campo pointed out, the precipitation was extremely unequally distributed across the territory.

“Where it rained the least was where it was needed most,” he posted on X.

Indeed, Catalonia last month declared a "drought emergency" and announced new water restrictions last week after rainfall was scarce and the weather was hot.

The region’s internal reservoirs, which serve around 6 million people, are just 15.53% full, according to Catalan government data from Wednesday.

The region and national government are already planning on bringing water in from Valencia by ship if the situation worsens.

The Guadalquivir basin, which serves parts of Andalusia like Seville, is also at just 21%, which is significantly lower than last year and well below the 10-year average, in which it is usually 50% full at this time of year.

The drought in southern Spain and Catalonia has been taking a toll on local economies, with farmers seeing both their crops affected and new water usage restrictions.

As 1,000 tractors entered the city of Barcelona in protest Wednesday afternoon, water usage is one of the main concerns on farmers’ minds.

Spain is one of the EU countries expected to be affected the most by climate change, according to the Spanish think tank Real Elcano.

One of the reasons the country is so vulnerable is because of the unbalanced distribution between the availability of water and existing demands, according to a study in the Journal of Hydrology.