Spain braces for temperature drop of up to 10 degrees as cold returns

The 44-degree summer ends with a sharp temperature plunge

Spain's State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) has issued a warning of a "significant change in the weather" starting Thursday. A cold air mass will send temperatures down by up to 10 degrees in 24 hours across several Spanish regions, with severe storms that could cause flooding and sudden squalls. After a summer in which thermometers reached 44 degrees in some spots, the drop is welcomed as a relief by some, and seen by others as yet another episode of an increasingly erratic climate.

From 44 to 34, and from 40 to 30

The first warnings point to a steep drop across much of the country. Some examples are cited: in some areas temperatures will fall from 44 to 34; in others, from 40 to 30. The Costa Brava will be spared the worst, with highs of 27 degrees at midday and a cooler night. In the north, Galicia offers the most striking contrast: highs of 18 degrees in a summer that is, paradoxically, described as the hottest on record for the region. And in Asturias, the rain has turned August green again, in a month where some were already saying that "if it doesn't stop raining, everything will be lost."

The same data, two opposite readings

What some interpret as proof that the climate is broken, others read as an argument against catastrophism. Among the reactions is a table that sums up the scepticism: if it gets colder, climate change; if it gets hotter, climate change; if it stays the same, imminent climate change. And some point out that "whatever the weather, it will make the news, and we will always be in danger." In between are those celebrating the end of the furnace, especially those who work outdoors or cannot afford air conditioning: for them, any temperature above 25 degrees is a real inferno.

August speaks: the proverbs don't fail

The old weather proverbs, so often forgotten, get their moment. "Rain on St Bernardino's day (20 August) takes away bread and gives no wine"; "The true taste of autumn comes with St Bartholomew's day (24 August)"; "In August, with the first rains, autumn arrives." Some mock the proverbs as "ancient quackery"; others defend them as empirical wisdom. The fact is, the arrival of the cold surprises no one among the old hands: "I think they call it August."

The consensus stalls on the same stumbling block. The summer of 2026 already ranks among the most extreme in several regions, and yet the cold arrives with force in the middle of August. Each episode ends up turned into ideological ammunition about the climate, and the data, for now, do not close the gap between those who see a planet derailed and those who see a normal cycle amplified by media noise.