Although the thermometer of the cities of Valencia and of Málaga there are hardly any differences, since both cities have come to exceed 40 degrees during the successive heat waves that have hit Spain this summer, the temperature of the water that bathes its coasts varies by up to eight degrees, a situation that may seem anomalous as both cities are on the Mediterranean coast.
Thus, while the buoy that Puertos del Estado has in front of the port of Valencia has reached 28.7 degrees this July, the current temperature of the water in Malaga is just over 19, underlines the head of Climatology of the State Meteorological Agency, José Ángel Núñez Mora.
Núñez Mora emphasizes that, in addition, the constant heat waves have caused the average temperature of the surface waters -20 miles from the coastline- in the Spanish coastal areas to be 24.6 degrees, “the largest recorded in coastal waters of Spain since at least 1940, surpassing the records of 2015 and 2022”.
“The Mediterranean Sea is in all-time highs“, points out Núñez Mora, who nonetheless explains that there is big differences between some areas and others of the national territory, as occurs between the Balearic Sea (maritime area between the coasts of Valencia, Castellón, Tarragona and Mallorca and Ibiza) and the Alborán, the westernmost part of the Mediterranean Sea that bathes the coast of Malaga.
The specialist indicates that “the current temperature in areas such as Tarifa or Algeciras is less than 18 degrees and the temperature in Malaga is just over 19”, a fact that “contrasts strongly with the 28 ºC in areas of the Balearic Sea”.