Sunday (22nd May) was the hottest day of the year, so far, in the Malaga area Fresh northwesterly winds blew down from the mountains on Sunday (22nd May) and brought Malaga, and some other parts of the Costa del Sol, the hottest day of the year so far. Afternoon temperatures reached 31 or 32 Celsius (88-90F) quite widely, and even the beaches shared the high temperatures as sea breezes were reluctant to develop.
The very low relative humidity, with values of 12%, or less, during the afternoon and evening, made the high temperatures feel surprisingly comfortable although , undoubtedly, a few more San Miguels were downed than on a normal Sunday afternoon.
The following night stayed very warm with lows along the coastal belt between 19 and 21 Celsius (66-70F). However, an early onset of the sea breeze on Monday morning (23rd) brought much lower temperatures to the beaches with values 10 Celsius (18F) lower than on the previous day.
As the summer now gets into full swing, the lack of rainfall is becoming of increasing concern. The Spanish Meteorological Institute has issued figures which suggest that much of Andalucia has only had between 25 and 50% of normal rainfall during the period November 2004 to April 2005. This appears to be the driest comparable period since 1947. Reservoirs are reported to be below 50% capacity, and although most tourists would like days of warm, unbroken sunshine, let's hope for just one day of steady, heavy rain to replenish those shrinking inland lakes.
