Storm Noa arrived in Spain and is set to cause changeable weather, particularly in the north, with the potential for temperature drops across the country, spring showers, and strong winds in the north.
According to the Spain’s state meteorological agency (AEMET), several regions have yellow or orange warnings on Thursday for risk of wind, snowfall or coastal phenomena caused by the storm: Aragón, Asturias, Cantabria, Cataluña, Galicia, Navarra and the Basque Country.
You can see an interactive map of the warnings in place (for Thursday, Friday and the weekend) here.
Fortunately, the changeability looks likely to be temporary and by the weekend temperatures more typical of the beginning of summer will return, AEMET forecasts suggest.
AEMET spokesman Rubén del Campo has said that on Thursday (13th) there will be a “transitory change in the weather” with a drop in temperatures, strong winds in the north and east, as well as rain in the north as a result of a corridor of cold and humid wind created by high pressure in the Atlantic.
You can see the development of Storm Noa below on the AEMET Twitter feed.
Images #METEOSAT IR channel of the last 12h. pic.twitter.com/DhgxK8w6YA
— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) April 13, 2023
Thursday
On Thursday temperatures are set to drop across most of the country, and night frosts will return to the inland areas of the of the northern Spain, particularly in cities such as Burgos, Ávila, Teruel, Soria, Vitoria and Pamplona.
Likewise, during the day in the eastern half of the country, as well as in the Balearic Islands, temperatures could drop by up to 10 degrees compared to the previous day.
Friday
On Friday temperatures could begin to pick up again, though winds from the west and northwest will continue, and somewhat intense in the north of Aragon and Catalonia. This combination of rising temperatures and high winds mean there is a high risk of fires in the eastern part of the peninsula throughout the weekend.
On the Mediterranean coast temperatures could rise by up to 10C, and in inland Valencia and Murcia temperatures could exceed 32 degrees.
Weekend
As for the weekend, AEMET expects an anticyclone “will dominate the weather scene” and temperatures will rise across the country with hardly any rain, except for the northernmost points of the country where some cloud coverage could linger but the frosts will have melted.
Rain could linger on the Saturday in Galicia, Cantabria, Asturias and the Basque Country, and it could still be a somewhat cool day in the far north, but the rest of the country is forecast to enjoy warm temperatures.
On Sunday the maximum temperatures will be somewhere between 5 and 10 degrees above average for April, with minimum temperatures “in general more consistent for the time,” so AEMET predicts a “marked difference” between temperatures during the early morning and the early afternoon.
In fact, temperatures across southern Spain could hit 28C or 30C in the early afternoon, and in the Guadalquivir valley they could reach 33C or 34C.