Meteorologists have already warned us that the weather conditions this summer may lead to the usual heavy rains of autumn arriving sooner than normal, perhaps as early as this month, with flooding likely caused by a DANA, but now, they are also warning that the exceptionally long heat wave that Spain has experienced this summer (linking several of them like never before) could be creating the conditions to experience new extreme phenomena in autumn.
According to experts, it is not ruled out that in a few weeks the conditions will be met to generate a medicán (Mediterranean hurricane) due to the temperature that the waters have acquired this summer.
According to the specialised portal tiempo.com, “for the formation of a medican, a series of very specific atmospheric conditions are required, together with surface temperatures in the Mediterranean above 27º C”. “Of course, if the sea temperatures are getting higher, there will be more and more the possibility that the marine conditions necessary for the formation of these adverse phenomena will be propitiated,” says Yurima Celdrán.
The heat waves have not only left a true trail of temperature records on land, but also in the sea. Spain has been in a heat wave situation for 26 days (so far), becoming the second summer with the most days in this situation, surpassed only by the summer of 2015, when there were 29 days of extreme heat.
This fact has caused “not only the atmosphere to heat up disproportionately, but also our seas”. The Mediterranean Sea has been reaching above-average values on the surface since the end of May. In fact, in the last week it has suffered a marine heat wave.
This phenomenon occurs when sea temperatures are abnormally warm in a given region of the sea for a prolonged period of time. In fact, temperatures in the sea have reached up to 30ºC in various points of the Mediterranean coast, with values that have been between 4ºC and 6ºC above normal at this time of year.
In this way, the ingredients are being given for the formation of hurricanes in the Mediterranean, continues Yurima Celdrán. “Higher Mediterranean temperatures provide a greater source of energy for medicans, further amplifying their destructiveness. Sea temperatures are expected to be higher than normal this autumn, so if the necessary atmospheric conditions are met, it would not be unreasonable to think that our Mediterranean Sea could host a medican this year,” he adds.
