To add insult to injury, we have all noticed that there has been a distinct lack of sunshine since the lockdown started in Spain and now it’s official….Berlin, Geneva and Paris have had more hours of sunshine than Alicante province in the first 40 days of confinement.
The forty days of confinement forced by the coronavirus crisis have been exceptionally cold and rainy in the Valencian Community, where fewer hours of sunshine are being recorded than in northern European capitals such as Paris or Berlin.
According to the records of the State Meteorological Agency, since 16th March there has been an accumulated rainfall that exceeds 280 litres per square meter in Alicante Province while in the observatories in Paris and Berlin have barely registered 7.4 and 5.7 litres, respectively.
Contrary to what is usual in this period there have also been more rainy days – 18 of them – in Alicante, much ore than in Paris or Berlin, where it has only rained on three occasions since 16th March.
However, the maximum average daytime temperature since the start of the confinement has been 18.1 degrees in Paris and an average 18.9 degrees in Alicante, which is in line with historical averages for this time of year.
In terms of the number of hours of sunshine, normally much higher in Spain – Berlin (370), Paris (336), and even Geneva (336) have far exceeded the records of Alicante at 243, Castellón 180 and València 162 in this period.