Monthly Reviews

The average maximum temperature during July 2020 in Malaga was 29.1 Celsius (84F), and that was 0.3 Celsius (0.5F) below normal for the time of year. The average minimum temperature was 22.7 Celsius (73F), and that was 0.9 Celsius (1.5F) above normal for July. Night-time temperatures were the highest in July for 5 years.

The highest temperature recorded during the month was 38.4 Celsius (101F) on the 2nd, and there were 9 other days with maxima above 30 Celsius (86F). However, only 1 of these warmer days had a high above 31 Celsius (88F), that was the 3rd when a temperature of 31.8 Celsius (89F) was recorded. On most days (16) maximum temperatures were between 27 and 30 Celsius (81-86F), but there were 5 days when the temperature stayed below 27 Celsius (81F). All these less warm days occurred before the 12th. On the 7th a high of 27.3 Celsius (81F) was measured, with 27.2 Celsius (81F) occurring on the 4th, the coolest day of the month.

There were no exceptionally warm nights during July, but the nights were consistently warm and humid. The warmest night was the 30th with a low of 25.4 Celsius (78F), but the minimum was 25.1 Celsius (77F) on the 21st, and there were 2 other nights with lows above 24 Celsius (75F), with both of these warmer nights occurring during the last week of July. On most nights (17) minimum temperatures were between 22 and 24 Celsius (72-75F), but there were 10 nights with minima under 22 Celsius (72F), with 9 of these less warm nights occurring before the 12th. Only 2 of these nights had lows under 21 Celsius (70F). On the 10th 20.7 Celsius (69F0 was measured, with 20.6 Celsius (69F) occurring on the first night of the month.

The sea temperature, around 22 Celsius (72F) at the beginning of July, rose to 24 or 25 Celsius (75-77F) by the end of the second week, and remained at 25, and occasionally 26 Celsius (79F), for the rest of the month.

There were 0.1 millimetres (<0.01 ins.) of rain during July. This was the first rain recorded in July for 10 years. It occurred on the morning of the 21st and was the briefest of downpours.

Thunder

There was thunder and lightning after dawn, but before mid morning on the 21st.

The pattern of winds was fairly typical for July, although the northwesterly land breeze at night was weaker than normal and gave way to the southeasterly sea breeze earlier in the day than normal. This was a factor in the lower than average day temperatures, and with the consistently high sea temperatures, it was a major reason why the relative humidity was so high. On most days the wind was light, but on 3 days there were gusts above 20 knots (23 mph). On the 3rd, a gust of 31 knots (35 mph) occurred late in the morning when the sea breeze arrived. Perhaps a dust devil travelled across the anemometer mast? On the 8th, a brisk southwesterly wind, parallel to the beach, blew during the afternoon and gusted to 21 knots (24 mph). A similar gust was measured in a downdraught during the storm on the morning of the 21st.

There was misty low cloud on the morning of the 4th, but no fog was observed in west Malaga during July.

Statistics for July 2020

Reporting Station	Highest Temp	Lowest Temp	Rain Total (mm)	Wettest	Rain days
Malaga Airport	40.3	19.6	0.3	0.3	1
Malaga Harbour	38.3	21.5	0.1	0.1	0
Fuengirola	31.7	20.6	0.4	0.4	1
Granada Airport	43.3	13.8	0	0	0
Almeria	40.2	20.6	0.6	0.6	1
Seville	43.2	19.6	0.9	0.9	1
Cordoba	43.9	17.3	1.2	1.2	1
Jerez de la Frontera	42.3	14.6	Trace	Trace	0
Murcia	39.7	20.0	3	1	4

 

The average maximum temperature during June 2020 in Malaga was 26.8 Celsius (80F), and that was 0.2 Celsius (<0.5F) below normal for the time of year. The average minimum temperature was 19.3 Celsius (67F), and that was 0.1 Celsius (<0.2F) above normal for June.

The highest temperature recorded during the month was 32.8 Celsius (91F) on the 15th, and there were only 2 other days when the temperature rose above 30 Celsius (86F). The 3rd had a maximum of 31.4 Celsius (88F)), and a high of 31.8 Celsius (89F) on the 16th. On most other days (17) the temperature rose to between 25 and 30 Celsius (77-86F), but there were several somewhat cooler days. Although the temperature failed to rise above 24 Celsius (75F) on 7 days, only 2 days had maxima below 23 Celsius (73F). On both the 2nd and 21st the maximum temperature was 22.9 Celsius (73F).

There were no exceptionally warm nights during June, but the minimum temperature on the 16th was 22.4 Celsius (72F), and on 12 other nights the temperature remained above 20 Celsius (68F), including 8 out of the last 9 nights of the month. Unsurprisingly, the coolest nights occurred early in the month, and on the 1st a minimum of 15.5 Celsius (60F) was measured. The 2nd and 3rd, along with the 13th and 18th, also had minimum temperatures below 17 Celsius (63F), with the lowest of these, 16.1 Celsius (61F), occurring on the 2nd.

The sea temperature, around 21 Celsius (70F) at the beginning of June, soon dipped to 15 or 16 Celsius (60F), and the recovery was slow. Values of 17 or 18 Celsius (63-64F) were recorded around mid month, with 19 Celsius (66F) at the beginning of the last week of June. However, in the last few days of the month the sea temperature rose to 21 or 22 Celsius (70-72F).

There were 0.8 millimetres (0.03 ins.) of rain during June. This was 45% of the monthly average, but it was the first measurable rain in June for 6 years. It only rained on 1 day, and that was on the 4th, when some showery bursts of rain occurred in the middle of the afternoon.

Thunder

There was no thunder heard in west Malaga during June.

The pattern of winds was fairly typical for June. On many days there was a gentle or moderate northwesterly land breeze until late morning, followed by light5 or gentle southeasterly sea breezes until evening. On a few days, the northwesterly wind gave way to a moderate or fresh southwesterly wind during the afternoon. On these days, it was most unpleasant on the beach with sand being lifted. There were 2 days when gusts exceeded 20 knots (23 mph), and the gust of 24 knots (28 mph) on the 18th was the highest recorded in June for 8 years. Interestingly, the low sea temperatures for much of the month meant that sea breezes were decidedly chilly, and on several days (8) the highest temperature of the day did not occur until after 7 pm when the land breeze returned.

No fog was observed in west Malaga during June, but the morning of the 18th was very misty for a while.

Statistics for June 2020

Reporting Station	Highest Temp	Lowest Temp	Rain Total (mm)	Wettest	Rain days
Malaga Airport	34.3	14.2	2	2	1
Malaga Harbour	33.2	17.6	*	*	*
Fuengirola	30.8	16.9	0.1	0.1	0
Granada Airport	39.5	9.3	9	7	2
Almeria	36.3	14.0	0.7	0.7	1
Seville	*	*	1	1	1
Cordoba	40.8	12.5	Trace	0	0
Jerez de la Frontera	37.9	10.2	12	10	2
Murcia	37.0	15.8	11	3	6

 

The average maximum temperature during May 2020 in Malaga was 24.3 Celsius (76F), and that was 0.5 Celsius (1F) above normal for the time of year. The average minimum temperature was 16.6 Celsius (62F), and that was also 0.5 Celsius (1F) above normal for May.

The highest temperature recorded during the month was 30.9 Celsius (88F) on the 23rd, and 29.6 Celsius (86F) was recorded on the 6th, but there were only 9 other days with highs above 25 Celsius (77F). In total, there were 5 of these warmer days during the first week, and 4 in the last week of May. The coolest weather was around the middle of the month, and all the days with maxima below 22 Celsius (72F), 8 days, occurred between the 10th and 18th. only 1 day had a maximum temperature below 20 Celsius (68F), that was the 15th with a high of 19.6 Celsius (67F).

There were no exceptionally warm nights during May, but the minimum temperature on the 27th was 19.6 Celsius (67F), and with 19.3 Celsius (67F) recorded on the 5th. A further 8 nights had minimum temperatures above 18 Celsius (64F). The coolest nights occurred close to the middle of the month, and all the nights with minima below 15 Celsius (59F) were located between the 11th and 17th. In fact, there were 7 consecutive cool nights, with the coolest on the 13th. A minimum temperature of 11.9 Celsius (54F) was recorded on that night, although the 15th was only a little less cool at 12.1 Celsius (54F).

The sea temperature, around 16 Celsius (61F) at the beginning of May, rose slowly to 18 Celsius (64F) around mid month. It then rose quite quickly to 20 or 21 Celsius (68-70F) at the end of the third week, and then stayed close to 21 Celsius (70F) for the rest of the month.

There were 32.7 millimetres (1.3 ins.) of rain during May. This was 70% above the monthly average. Measurable rain fell on 5 days, and that’s 1 above normal. A light shower fell on the afternoon of the 120th, but it only gave 0.3 millimetres (0.01 ins.) of rain. However, on the 12th, there was heavy rain for much of the morning, and this totalled 27.2 millimetres (1.1 ins.). Further, mostly light, rain fell on the evening of the 13th, and showers on the 14th produced another 3.8 millimetres (0.15 ins.). It then stayed dry until the 31st, when dust-laden showers in the afternoon only added 0.8 millimetres (0.03 ins.) to the monthly total, but made cars very dirty.

Thunder

There were 2 days with thunder observed during May. Thunderstorms occurred on the evening of the 14th, and further thunder was heard on the afternoon of the 31st. There were many lightning strikes across southern Spain and a number of fires were started in the sierras.

The pattern of winds was fairly unusual for May. Although northwesterly land breezes occurred on almost half the days, the southeasterly sea breezes were less frequent than usual. Instead, south to southwesterly winds occurred, these blowing parallel to the shoreline, and often brisk enough to lift the sand at times. Shelter from the southwest wind meant that the anemometer didn’t register the strong gusts, and the only gust above 20 knots (23 mph) recorded during the month was from the northwest on the 1st when 21 knots (24 mph) was measured.

No fog was observed in west Malaga during May.

Statistics for May 2020

Reporting Station	Highest Temp	Lowest Temp	Rain Total (mm)	Wettest	Rain days
Malaga Airport	32.0	10.6	31	28	5
Malaga Harbour	31.0	13.4	32	29	4
Fuengirola	28.2	13.0	32	26	5
Granada Airport	35.8	7.9	54	34	7
Almeria	36.3*	11.2	2	1	3
Seville	37.5	12.1	55	18	8
Cordoba	38.0	9.4	19	8	7
Jerez de la Frontera	36.9	10.6	69	39	10
Murcia	34.2	11.2	25	18	4

 

The average maximum temperature during April 2020 in Malaga was 19.8 Celsius (68F), and that was 1.2 Celsius (2F) below normal for the time of year. It was the lowest average maximum for 13 years and was only 0.1 Celsius (0.2F) higher than the average for February. The average minimum temperature was 14.0 Celsius (57F), and that was 0.4 Celsius (<1F) above normal for April. It was an unusually cloudy month, with sunshine amounts at Malaga Airport almost 40% below average.

The highest temperature recorded during the month was 26.1 Celsius (79F) on the 30th, and there were only 4 other days with highs above 24 Celsius (75F). These were the 19th, 22nd, 26th and 29th, with the warmest day being the 19th with a maximum of 25.6 Celsius (78F). In fact, there were just 10 days with maxima above 20 Celsius (68F), with all of the warmer days occurring after mid month. There were many rather cool days, particularly before the middle of April. Of the 11 days with maxima below 18 Celsius (64F), only 2 days, the 21st and 23rd, occurred after the 15th. On 3 of these cooler days, highs were below 17 Celsius (63F). The 3rd and 21st had 16.6 Celsius (62F) and 16.7 Celsius (62F) respectively, but the 2nd was the coolest day of the month with a maximum of 15.8 Celsius (61F).

There were no exceptionally mild nights during April, but the minimum temperature on the 16th was 16.5 Celsius (62F), and there were 11 nights with minima between 15 and 16 Celsius (59-61F). The coolest nights were mostly towards the beginning of the month. On 8 occasions the temperature fell below 13 Celsius (55F), but only 1 of these cooler nights occurred after the 11th. On the 21st a low of 11.6 Celsius (53F) was measured. Each of the first 3 nights of April had minima below 13 Celsius (55F). On the 3rd, a low 10.4 Celsius (50F) occurred, but the coolest night of the month was the 2nd with a minimum temperature of 9.2 Celsius (49F).

The sea temperature rose to 17 Celsius (63F) for a while after mid-month, otherwise, it remained around 15 or 16 Celsius (59-61F).

There were 26.9 millimetres (1.1 ins.) of rain during April. This was over 30% below the monthly average. Measurable rain fell on 6 days, and that’s 1 below normal. Showers occurred on the 2nd, mainly during the morning, and 7.6 millimetres (0.3 ins.) were recorded. A little rain fell on the evening of the 9th, but heavier rain fell overnight on the 15th with lighter rain then falling for much of the day. It was the wettest day of the month with 8.6 millimetres (0.34 ins,) measured. Rain fell on the evening of the 20th, with outbreaks of rain on the following day totalling 7.9 millimetres (0.3 ins.). The last rain of the month occurred on the morning of the 25th, but it was light with only 1 millimetre (0.04 ins.) added to the April total.

Thunder

The only thunderstorm of the month occurred before dawn on the 15th and lasted for about an hour.

Sea breezes from an east to southeasterly direction were more common than usual during April, and this partly accounted for the cooler than average days and milder than average nights. On many days the wind was gentle or moderate but there were a couple of outbreaks with fresh easterlies, and gusts of 23 knots (26 mph) and 25 knots (29 mph) occurred on the 4th and 15th respectively. Warm northwesterly gusts reached 25 knots (29 mph) on the 19th, with gusts also exceeding 20 knots (23 mph) on both the 20th and 23rd.

No fog was observed in west Malaga during April.

Statistics for April 2020

Reporting Station	Highest Temp	Lowest Temp	Rain Total (mm)	Wettest	Rain days
Malaga Airport	27.0	8.9	27	11	6
Malaga Harbour	26.2	9.0	42	18	5
Fuengirola	N/a	N/a	19	9	4
Granada Airport	25.0	3.6	49	17	15
Almeria	26.0	8.2	22	9	6
Seville	25.9	8.5	72	26	11
Cordoba	26.8	6.6	67	13	13
Jerez de la Frontera	24.8	6.9	61	15	10
Murcia	28.3	7.9	29	8	12