This festivity varies from year to year, since it is related to the religious calendar. In 2023, the days associated with Carnaval (holidays and non-holidays) will take place between January 20 (Friday) and March 5 (Sunday). However, the most important days of Carnival will take place between February 16 and 21.
This question is relevant since, although January is the coldest month of the year, February and March are also. The latter, moreover, are sometimes characterized by having very adverse weather.
Therefore, it is interesting to observe, analyze and draw conclusions about how the weather usually behaves during this time of year.
However, before providing information on the weather on these dates, it is worth knowing on which dates the most renowned carnivals in our country will be held.
Carnivals Cadiz 2023
Along with those of the Canary Islands, the carnivals of Cádiz are the most famous in Spain. In 2023, they will be held between February 16 and 26.
Canary Islands Carnivals 2023
In Tenerife, the carnivals will start on January 20 and will last until February 26. For their part, in Las Palmas they will celebrate it from February 21 to Tuesday March 5.
Carnavales Galicia 2023
In Galicia, the carnivals will last between February 16 and February 22.
Carnivals Bilbao 2023
The town of Bilbao will celebrate its carnival week from February 16 to 21.
Carnivals Badajoz 2023
The carnivals of Badajoz, in Extremadura, also deserve special mention. In his case, they will be held from February 17 to 26.
Carnivals Catalonia 2023
Another of the regions of Spain that celebrates carnival is Catalonia. But, without a doubt, the capital, Barcelona, is one of the areas with the most festivities, activities and plans around the carnival.
If you want to enjoy the carnivals in Barcelona, you will have to go there between February 16 and 22.
The weather in Carnival: wrap up warm, it’s still cool
From the climate point of view, this year Carnivals 2023 fall in the middle of February, so it is winter. This is so because February is a month of the winter quarter (December and January complete it), since at the meteorological level they are the coldest months of the year.
To know the time that usually takes place on the dates of the carnivals this year, data from 140 stations have been obtained. The historical data period is 1991-2020, and the February period analyzed is February 16-21. The maps represent at least one station per province.
What does the data tell us? temperatures in Carnivals? In general we still talk about cold. As can be seen in the previous map, the coldest areas of the country are concentrated in the interior. This cold is especially noticeable in Castilla, with cities like Soria, which has an average of 4.3ºC, or Molina de Aragón, with an average of 3.8ºC.
Somewhat milder are the temperatures on the Cantabrian coast, with values that in the case of Oviedo are around 8.3ºC or in San Sebastián at 9.6ºC. In Galicia the situation is similar, with 9.6ºC in Vigo. These same temperatures can also be seen in areas such as Extremadura, where Cáceres presents an average of 9.2ºC.
In the Ebro the values are warmer as we get closer to its mouth, and on the Mediterranean coast and Andalusia we find, in general, the highest temperatures. This is the case of Valencia, with an average of 12.5ºC or Malaga with 13.1ºC.
Finally, the island territories have very different temperatures. While the Balearic Islands behave in a similar way to the peninsula, with 9.9ºC in Palma, in the Canary Islands the values soar to 18.2ºC in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria or 18.1ºC in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Cold minima and mild maxima
If we go on to analyze the maximum and minimum data, we find that the coldest point in the country is located in Guadalajara, specifically in mill of aragon.
Not surprisingly, it is considered the coldest town in Spain, and on the dates when the Carnivals take place in 2023, it is normal to have maximum temperatures of about 11.7ºC and minimum temperatures of up to -2.4ºC.
Carrión de los Condes (Palencia) and Teruel also sneak in with an average minimum for these days of less than -1ºC. The rest of the locations with an average temperature below 0ºC are located on the northern plateau. At the antipodes are the Canary Islands, with values above 14ºC in almost all of them, and some areas of the south and the Mediterranean, which exceed 8ºC.
The maximums, for their part, are shorter in areas of the interior of the country and in very specific coastal points, such as Barcelona. Nevertheless, Other places like Murcia have skyrocketing highs, with an average that almost reaches 20ºC!
It rains many years in Carnivals, but not every day
He weather in Carnivals is usually marked by sporadic rains. Since the range covered is 6 days, it is not uncommon for it to end up raining on one of those days. For this reason, the percentage of years with rain in almost all seasons is very high.
These data are somewhat higher in areas of the Cantabrian Sea and the Atlantic slope, although we find some outstanding data in the Mediterranean, such as 70% of the years in Palma or 76.7% in Melilla. On the lower side of the range, sites such as Almería or Alicante stand out, with 50% and 46.7% respectively.
Las Canary Islands there are important differences between the western and eastern islands. In the western ones, the percentage of years with rain reaches 70% or more in the rainiest areas. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Gran Canaria it is between 60 and 70%. On the contrary, in Lanzarote the percentage of years hardly reaches 50% (and 20% of days).
But as we have said, Just because it rains almost every year doesn’t mean it rains a lot.. This is reflected in the percentage of days with rain.
For example, it is striking how in Santander it rains 93.3% of the years but only 47.2% of the days. This same pattern is observed in many other areas. This is the case of Madrid, where it rains only 26.7% of the days but it rains in 63.3% of the years.
As a general rule, it can be seen how it rains on about 25-30% of the days. This means to us that at least 1 in 4 or 1 in 3 days have some type of precipitation. It must be taken into account that the dew deposited many mornings at dawn is considered precipitation in the weather stations. In reality, therefore, it rains even less!
The weather in Carnivals in 2023: we still have to wait
As has been seen, the days on which these festivities fall this year are usually marked by cold weather in the mornings and milder weather in the afternoons. With precipitation, in general, not very relevant.
This year we still don’t know what the weather will be like, especially for those of you who are waiting to know What will the weather be like in the Carnivals of Cádiz or the Canary Islands?, some of the most popular in our country. It is still early, so we have to wait for what the forecast says.
