This web page provides information about the weather conditions of the test site.
Last updated: 19 July 2003 - 12:00h

Meteorological conditions and weather during the campaign for the test site

Synoptic situation

The synoptic situation during the campaign was the typical summer configuration for the Iberian Peninsula: The high pressures from the Azores were extending over the SW part of Europe, but at the same time and in the afternoon, the high temperatures at the not coastal regions were generating a thermal low pressure center near to the center of the Peninsula. The isobaric maps from different sources showed this specific configuration, and its stability for all the campaign days. Nevertheless, at the middle levels of the troposphere appeared a little mass of cold air comming from the west, which increased the inestability the Saturday 12th. As a consequence, the evolution clouds at the afternoon were more extended and, furthermore, it was detected the formation of some isolated storms over the mountains zones at the north of the test site. What is more, another cold air mass, more significant than the one of the Saturday, appeared Monday afternoon over the west of the Peninsula comming also from the west, increasing the clouds.

The temperature range during the campaign was:

The 10th of July

The weather was sunny and dry, with a minimum temperature of 19ºC and maximum temperature of 38ºC in the central hours of the day. The wind was weak in the morning, with low to moderate wind from SE at the afternoon.

The 11th of July

The 11th of July the weather was also sunny and quite dry, with a minimum temperature of 19ºC and maximum temperature of 38ºC. About the wind, it was been calm in the morning, and low to moderate at the afternoon from SE. The Meteosat images showed the Peninsula without clouds, except at the north and west zones, with low-altitude clouds stoped at the Cantabric and Pyrenees mountains, and also minor low-altitude cloud formation at the Alboran sea, to the south. The images of the evening showed cumulus cloud evolution at the mountains of the north, but it didn't generated storm fenomena.

The 12th of July

The morning were sunny and quite stable just at the test site, but this day was characterised by a quickly cumulus cloud development from the morning but only over the mountains at the N and SW of the test site. Moreover, over the mentioned mountains were isolated rain showers and storms that not afected the test site.

The 13th of July

The 13th of July was similar to the 11th, but with more cumulus cloud evolution over the mountains of the north of the province, never before the afternoon. The temperatures and wind conditions will not suffer important changes. In comparison with the previous day, the inestabiltty diminished, so that it was sunny but, as mentioned, with some cumulus clouds in the afternoon over the mountains of the province.

The 14th of July

The 14th the inestability increased during the day and, furthermore, there were storm fenomena over the mountains in the evening. The temperatures were quite estables, and without significant changes. The predominating direction of the wind was South, with low wind at the morning, and moderate intervals at the afternoon.

Some important advises

As you can see, the forecasted maximum temperatures for the days of the campaign were quite high, so it was recommended to carry appropriate wear and enough drink. Nevertheless, long trousers were recommended since some crop could sting. About the footwear take into account that some fields were just watered, so closed sport footwear or mountain boots were good options.

For choosing the sun protector factor, the UVI index maps were provided the days before and durign the campaign. Those days, the maximum UVI index was very high, and sometimes, extreme, over the test site.

Although there weren't specific advises for the alergic people in this page, during the campaign, it was advised to the alergics to take special cautions, since there were alergic people who had trouble with some crops, specially the corn.