News
From 20 °C in Madrid to 12 °C in Rascafría: how the night changes over 70 kilometres
Madrid begins September with a particularly marked temperature difference between the capital and the Sierra Norte. While Aemet forecasts lows of 20 °C in Madrid during the early hours of Wednesday, Rascafría will drop to 12 °C: eight degrees less over a distance of just over 70 kilometres.
The difference has already been noticeable this Tuesday, 1 September. Aemet's municipal forecast puts Madrid between 20 and 34 ºC, while Rascafría ranges between 11 and 31 ºC. The minimum in the town in the Lozoya valley is therefore nine degrees lower than in the capital.
And the contrast will continue as daytime temperatures rise. Madrid will probably reach 36 ºC on Wednesday, 37 ºC on Thursday and 38 ºC on Friday. Minimums will remain at 20, 22 and 21 ºC respectively, extending tropical nights across much of the city.
Aemet is also maintaining yellow warnings for high temperatures in the Metropolitana y Henares area on Wednesday and Thursday. The forecast threshold reaches 36 ºC on Wednesday and 38 ºC on Thursday in the warning area, so the heat episode will gain further intensity before the end of the week.
Rascafría will not be left out of the daytime rise either. Aemet forecasts highs of 33 ºC on Wednesday, 34 on Thursday and 35 on Friday. The difference appears above all after sunset: its minimums will stay at 12, 14 and 15 ºC on those same days.
Altitude helps explain part of the contrast. The urban centre of Rascafría lies at around 1,162 metres, compared with the approximately 657 metres that Aemet uses as a reference for Madrid. The municipality also lies in the Lozoya valley, within the Sierra de Guadarrama, where night-time cooling is much more pronounced than in the capital's urban area.
That makes the temperature difference more visible at night than during the central hours of the day. On Wednesday, for example, the forecast highs separate Madrid and Rascafría by just three degrees —36 compared with 33—, while the minimums open up a gap of eight degrees.
The episode could change over the weekend. Aemet raises the probability of precipitation for Saturday to 55% in Madrid and 80% in Rascafría, accompanied by a fall in highs. Until then, the nights will continue to offer two very different scenarios within the same region.