Spain swings from unbearable heat to cold in just two days

Two days and a thermal U-turn: from sweltering to sweater in mid-August

Two days ago the heat was so unbearable that we had to close the windows. Tonight, the cold has forced us to do the same, but for the opposite reason. The mercury has taken a 180-degree turn in mid-August, and the whole country is wondering whether this is normal.

A regional contrast: summer in the east, autumn in the centre

The temperature drop, however, has not been uniform. While in the east and south summer remains firmly in place, with muggy nights, in the centre and north people have already been seen wearing jackets and scarves. Two climate realities coexisting in the same country and the same week.

It depends on which lens you look through

Faced with this spectacle, interpretations run wild. Some see the hand of climate change in any fluctuation of the thermometer, others retort sarcastically that "it's all the fault of the changing climate", and others simply dismiss it as a seasonal anecdote: in mid-August, they point out, there are still weeks of heat ahead.

The irony of the matter is that, while some look for culprits in the weather or in politics, others point out that abrupt temperature swings at this time of year are more common than they seem. The gota fría (a cold-drop weather phenomenon), with its flooding, will surely arrive in the coming weeks; and then everyone will be talking about the climate again.

But this episode leaves a question hanging in the air: if in two days we went from T-shirts to sweaters, what can we expect from an autumn that is shaping up to be ever more unpredictable? Nobody knows, and that, perhaps, is the only thing that is clear.