Summer temperatures arrive on Costa del Sol, but will the record high for April be broken again?

Summer temperatures have come to Malaga and the Costa del Sol in April. With two months still to go before the official start of the season, Malaga province (and practically the entire country) will face extraordinarily high temperatures starting tomorrow Tuesday (25 April). This has even led the state weather agency Aemet to issue a special notification about the weather.

But will it be a new record? The first thing to point out is that this month has already seen the highest maximum temperature in April, since record have been kept in Malaga. On 10 April, Aemet confirmed a maximum of 33.7C at Malaga Airport, which is the official reference point for statistical purposes, and which was the highest value since 1943. The previous maximum for April was recorded only a year earlier, on the 17th of 2022, with 33.1 degrees.

Related story

Warning of exceptionally high temperatures in Spain for time of year, with up to 40C forecast this week

But now this record could be beaten again, since this coming weekend the local, warm ‘terral’ wind will enter the province again. But whether it will be as hot as during Holy Week remains to be seen.

At the moment, between Tuesday and Friday in the province, we must differentiate between Malaga city, the coast, and inland areas.

“In Malaga the heat is going to be felt less than in other places (referring above all to the Guadalquivir valley, where sweltering temperatures of up to 40C are expected) but it is going to be an extraordinary episode, which is going to break the maximum records in many points of the Spanish mainland”, Jesús Riesco, director of the meteorological centre in Malaga, explained.

The cause lies in the progressive entry of a very hot and dry air mass, of African origin, which will join the stable conditions of the atmosphere and the strong insolation, which will cause the values ​​to increase progressively, "many degrees above normal for the time of year”.

In Malaga city, from Tuesday the values ​​at noon and in the early afternoon will be very close to 29 and up to 30 degrees, that is, typically summer temperatures. The average maximum in April is usually 22 degrees, therefore it will be 7-8 degrees warmer than normal. And the same will happen with the lows: 17 to 20 degrees. "This week will be summer," warned the meteorologist.

Added to this is the fact that, once the warm air mass passes across the mainland on Saturday or Sunday, the ‘terral’ will cause it to rise even higher in those areas where the warm wind from the west usually enters (in the city, Guadalhorce valley, Vélez-Málaga and Estepona, among others). In some areas it is expected that the mercury will hover around 32-33 degrees.

Meanwhile, inland the situation will be different. From tomorrow until Friday in Antequera, values ​​above 32 and up to 34C are expected, something equally unprecedented (the average for this month is 20, therefore, they will be 12 to 14 degrees more), and with minimums of 15 to 18. Not a drop of rain is expected.

The other hotspot in the province will be in the Guadalhorce valley. In Coin it could reach up to 34 and 36 degrees from Tuesday, and with lows of 20.

In this context of drought, heat, land and low humidity, the risk of wildfires is very high throughout Malaga province, according to information from Infoca.

As if that were not enough, there is no clear respite in May either, as the weather models again point to temperatures being above normal. "This is climate change, we have to get used to a situation where records will be broken continuously," warned Jesús Riesco.

Therefore, although it appears that the official record (that registered at Malaga Airport) will not be broken in these coming days, the director of Aemet anticipates that records will be exceeded in many inland municipalities, especially in Antequera and Coín.

However, José Luis Escudero, head of SUR’s meteorological blog said he expects that the coastline will experience this exceptional weather situation in a milder way, especially in Marbella, where it will not exceed 26 degrees; and be around 27-28 on the rest of the coast.

"Tomorrow may be the warmest day in the province according to the models, the rest of the time it will remain that way until Saturday, when it will rise with the terral."

In addition, he said that the combination of light south-southeast temperate breezes and cold sea water could cause ‘taro’ fog banks to form again at some points on the coast.