Spain records record May sea temperatures

Spain’s port authority said on June 2 that sea water temperatures reached record highs for May across much of the country’s coastline, with new monthly highs at most of its offshore buoys. Puertos del Estado said 12 of its 15 deep-water buoys and 6 of its 14 coastal buoys logged their highest May temperatures in the historical series. The warmest offshore reading was 26.58 degrees Celsius at the Mahón buoy in the Balearic Islands on May 27, followed by 26.2 degrees at Dragonera on May 30. Reuters reported the data on June 2 and cited Spain’s weather agency AEMET for the view that human-caused climate change was behind the pattern. ### Which parts of Spain’s coast set the new May records? Puertos del Estado said all buoys in the Cantabrian Sea and Galicia area, and most of those in the Mediterranean, recorded their highest sea water temperatures ever measured in May. The agency said the records covered both offshore stations and nearshore stations closer to ports and beaches. (puertos.es) The offshore network’s record list included Bilbao-Vizcaya at 20.26C on May 28, Cabo de Peñas at 18.97C on May 31, Estaca de Bares at 19.25C on May 31, Valencia at 23.47C on May 31 and Tarragona offshore at 24.64C on May 31. In the coastal network, Tarragona reached 24.5C on May 30 and Barcelona reached 24.2C on May 31, according to the port authority. (puertos.es) ### Why is the Mahón reading getting the most attention? Mahón posted the highest figure in the deep-water network at 26.58C on May 27, according to Puertos del Estado. Dragonera, also in the Balearic Islands, was next at 26.2C on May 30. Reuters highlighted the Mahón figure in its June 2 report as the highest reading among the 15 deep-water buoys it cited. (puertos.es) Euronews, citing the broader State Ports monitoring system, reported that 18 of 29 buoys in the full network hit all-time May highs. That wider total is consistent with Puertos del Estado’s separate counts for 15 offshore buoys and 14 coastal buoys. ### What did Spanish officials say caused the spike? Rubén del Campo, a spokesperson for AEMET, told Reuters that human-caused climate change was behind the phenomenon. (puertos.es) He said, “Over the last decade, there have been just seven record-breaking cold days, whereas we have had 221 record-breaking hot days,” adding that this reflected a constant rise in global average temperatures. (euronews.com) Del Campo also told Reuters that the record May sea temperatures were unrelated to El Niño. Reuters reported that as the World Meteorological Organization said on June 2 there was an 80% chance El Niño conditions would emerge between June and August 2026 and that most forecast models suggested the event would be at least moderate and possibly strong. ### How were these temperatures measured? (kfgo.com) Puertos del Estado said it receives real-time information from its monitoring networks and manages and distributes data on sea temperature and other marine variables including waves and currents. The agency said it operates a Deep-water Buoy Network of 15 stations, a Coastal Buoy Network of 14 stations, 46 tide gauges along the Spanish coast and a high-frequency radar network of 9 stations run jointly with other institutions. (kfgo.com) The figures released on June 2 were based on measurements from those buoy networks during May. Puertos del Estado published the individual buoy records and dates for each new monthly high. ### What comes next from the agencies tracking this? Puertos del Estado said all information from its monitoring networks is received in real time through its Portus system, where sea temperature and other marine data are published. (puertos.es) AEMET and the World Meteorological Organization are also expected to keep issuing updates as Spain moves into June and as El Niño conditions are monitored through at least November 2026.