March 2023 was the second warmest of the 21st century

Except for the first week, temperatures were above the normal average for the entire month of March in Spain, reaching close to 38ºC in parts of the Canary Islands.

It was dry or very dry in most of the peninsular territory, except in Galicia, southwest of Castilla y León and Extremadura, as well as in the Balearic and Canary Islands, for which the meteorological drought persists.

The State Meteorological Agency has published its climate balance for the month of March 2023, in which it shows that the month was very hot and very dry in the whole of Spain, being the second warmest March of the 21st century and the third since the start of the historical series in 1961. It was also the second driest March of the current century, and the sixth since the start of the series.

March was overall very warm, with an average temperature over mainland Spain of 11.6 °C, a value that is 1.8 °C above the average for this month (reference period: 1991-2020).

March was very warm in most of mainland Spain, being extremely warm in some parts of the Bay of Biscay and in the east, and warm in parts of the western third. In the Balearic Islands it was very warm, while in the Canary Islands it was very warm or extremely warm.

The month began with a cold episode, with both maximum and minimum temperatures below the usual for the time of year, dropping to -11.5 ºC in Molina de Aragón (Guadalajara). In this period, two records for the lowest daily minimum temperatures were recorded for the month of March in the AEMET main network.

Subsequently, from the 7th until the end of the month, there was a long and intense warm episode, with temperatures clearly above normal. In the last days the highest temperatures were observed, highlighting the 37.7 ºC of Tenerife south/airport, within a very warm episode that affected the Canary archipelago. On the Peninsula, the highest values ​​occurred in the Region of Murcia, with 33 ºC in its capital. Throughout the warm episode, there were twelve records for highest daily minimum temperatures for March and ten highest daily maximum temperatures for that month.

March was very dry in terms of rainfall, with an average rainfall value over mainland Spain of 21.2 mm, a value that represents 36% of the normal value for the month (reference period: 1991-2020).

March was between dry and very dry in almost the entire Peninsula, becoming extremely dry in parts of Aragon and Catalonia. Only in points of the peninsular Atlantic slope did it have a character between normal and humid, especially in Galicia, southwest of Castilla y León and north of Extremadura. In the Balearic Islands, March was dry or very dry, except in Ibiza, where it was humid. In the Canary Islands the month was between dry and very dry in all the islands.

Only during the first part of the month did it rain in large areas of the territory. In the second, rainfall was restricted to the northern and northwestern third, affecting the southern third dispersedly. In the third 10 days, it only rained in Galicia and the extreme north of the peninsula, with snowfall in the Pyrenees.

After a month of March in which rainfall was particularly low, the situation of meteorological drought continues in Spain as a whole, both for the indicators of the last twelve months and for those of the last thirty-six months, which means that the long-term drought that began at the end of December 2022 persists.

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