Spain registers its hottest winter on record

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spain just registered the hottest winter on record, the country's meteorological agency AEMET announced on Thursday.

The meteorological winter, which encapsulates the months of December, January and February, was a staggering 1.9 degrees Celsius (3.42 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than normal.

According to AEMET, this makes it the hottest winter since record-keeping began in 1961. But the agency also estimated that it is the hottest winter since at least 1870, which is as far as climate reconstructions go back.

Warmer-than-usual temperatures extended across Spain, with the central Mediterranean area and the Canary Islands seeing the sharpest rise.

This is the sixth winter in a row in Spain that has been hotter than average.

Precipitation was abundant in northwestern Spain over the winter.

Most of it fell in wet areas where it was not desperately needed, though it did alleviate the long-term drought in the Tajo basin, according to AEMET spokesperson Ruben del Campo.

But Catalonia, which is under a state of emergency for its intense drought, saw the country's biggest decrease in reserves during the three winter months.

Currently, Catalonia's internal water reserves are just 15% full. Last year at this time, when the drought was already biting, they were 27% full.

Water reserves also continued to drop in the south and east of Andalusia, which has been dealing with a drought for eight years, according to del Campo.

Going into the spring months, AEMET predicts that the weather will remain significantly hotter than usual through June. In terms of rainfall, it is just as likely that there will be more rain than average as it is that there will be less.

Spain, as a whole, remains under a prolonged drought.

In parts of Catalonia such as Barcelona, water will have to be imported from Valencia by boat if the drought continues into the summer, according to government plans.