PARTS of Spain will have a desert-like climate by 2050, a new study has warned.
Research from the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC) into global warming and drought has placed Spain on the frontline of climate change in Europe, with Barcelona and Mallorca cited as two popular destinations that will slip into a desert climate if current trends are not reversed.
By 2050, they predict that rainfall will decrease by up to 20 per cent, causing drought across the country.
They said: “The warming process resulting from climate change has been very pronounced in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, representing a true hotspot”.
Between 1971 and 2022, temperatures in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands have surged by over 3C, with summer days – measured as days with a maximum daily temperature of over 25C – increasing from 82.4 to 117.9 per year in the same timeframe.
The researchers have also noted that tropical nights – where temperatures fail to dip below 25C – increased by tenfold, concentrated in the southern plateau, the valleys of Guadalquivir and Ebro rivers, as well as the Mediterranean coast.
Rainfall has also diminished at a rate of 0.93mm per year, provoking severe droughts that have dried up reservoirs and other water sources.
Additionally, extreme rainfall has increased in Andalucia, Castilla la Mancha, Murcia, Valencia, Catalunya, the Balearic Islands, Aragon, Navarre, Basque Country and Asturias.
If these trends fail to slow down, the researchers warn that large swathes of Spain will become desert-like, with further falls in rainfall and greater increases in mean temperature.
This will provoke a ‘fundamental change’ to Spain’s climate, progressively displacing the traditional coastal Mediterranean climate.
