Easter week of 2016: Warmest temperature on record was Valencia's 33.2ºC, and coldest was Palencia's -7.9ºC

THE coldest-ever temperature in history over the week that Easter 2016 has fallen in was in the centre-northern province of Palencia, in Castilla y León, at -7.9ºC – and the warmest, curiously, was in its 'rhyming province' on the east coast, Valencia, at 33.2ºC.

State meteorological agency AEMET has studied its figures over the last 35 years across the country for the week of March 20 to 28 in a bid to work out what could have been the likely forecast for Easter this year, but the variations are so huge that only vague averages could be given.

On average, it has rained for between three and four days over this period since 1981, meaning a 40% chance of a wet Easter this year, and average temperatures for this week sit between 12ºC and 14ºC – but this takes the vast climatic disparities across the whole country into account, as well as thermometer readings from the coldest part of the night in northern, inland areas compared with the warmest part of the day in Mediterranean and southern locations – even without including the Canary Islands in the equation.

Average temperatures for this last full week in March have sat at around 8ºC in the northern half, with lows of 3ºC and highs of 14ºC, cloudy skies and fog, reaching an average of 16ºC in southern and eastern coastal areas, with typical highs of 20ºC and lows of 10ºC.

For the Balearic Islands, averages reach around 15ºC and, in the Canaries, 19ºC, whilst altitudes of over 2,000 metres sit at a chilly 6.6ºC.

Over the week Easter falls on this year, in 1988, records of 33.2ºC were seen in Valencia – the warmest province in the country that year over the last full week in March – followed closely by 32.6ºC in the province of Alicante which borders Valencia to the south.

But in the same week in 2007, Castilla y León was in the depths of a harsh winter: Palencia's -7.9ºC in the daytime was not out of the ordinary in the context of its wider region, with Salamanca seeing the mercury plummet to -7ºC, Valladolid suffering -6.6ºC, León lighting the fires and wrapping itself in blankets to combat temperatures of -6.4ºC, and the region's most northerly province of Burgos, whose capital is famous for its soft white cheese and Spain's second-largest and arguably most breathtakingly-spectacular cathedral, shivered as the mercury plunged to -5.5ºC.

The same week in 2002 was the warmest ever seen for those dates in Andalucía, with the province of Huelva sweltering in July-like climes of 31ºC, Sevilla at 30.5ºC, and Córdoba at 30.2ºC, whilst its north-western neighbour Extremadura registered temperatures of 30ºC a decade previously, Castilla-La Mancha's south-easternmost province of Albacete basked in 30ºC the year before, and once again in 2002, the normally-chilly region of Galicia saw thermometers shoot up to 30.6ºC in the province of Ourense.

Castilla y León has not always been freezing in late March, however: pleasant, springlike temperatures of 24ºC were measured in Valladolid and of 23.2ºC in Segovia in 1990 and 22.2ºC in Ávila in 1988, whilst 2002 remains one of the warmest years for the end of March with Soria registering an unusual climate even for early summer of 24ºC.

Barcelona briefly rose to 23.6ºC in March 2006, but the following year brought the lowest-ever figures for midday highs – again, in Castilla y León.

Top temperatures did not rise above 1.3ºC in Burgos or 1ºC in Soria, and 1991 also brought a cold late March for the region with Ávila's warmest moment reaching 2.2ºC and Segovia's, 2.3ºC.

Highs, or top midday temperatures, have never gone below 17.7ºC in the Canary Islands in the last full week of March.

Despite the ongoing drought on the east coast – now in its third year – the wettest late March was only a year ago, with 33.4 litres of rain per square metre, or 3.34 centimetres (just under an inch and a half) for the country as a whole, but 1995 was the driest for this week with only 100ml per square metre, being 0.1mm or under 0.05 of an inch.

Snow over the week of March 20 to 28 – except at high altitudes, where Spain's ski resorts are based – has almost entirely fallen in, once again, Castilla y León.

For the central plains of Castilla-La Mancha, the coldest province over what is Easter week this year has historically been Cuenca, sandwiched between those of Valencia and Madrid, with an average daytime reading of 9.5ºC – colder than those of Guadalajara (10.2ºC), Albacete (10.7ºC), Ciudad Real (12.1ºC) and Toledo (12.3ºC).

The coldest temperature for that week on record was in El Serranillo in the province of Guadalajara in 1986, at -5.3ºC, whilst the warmest was in Albacete, west and inland of that of Alicante, which rose to 30ºC.