Reinosa in Cantabria recorded a minimum temperature of 6.3 degrees Celsius at 6.30am on Tuesday, 1 September. According to the Spanish weather agency, AEMET this was the second-lowest temperature recorded in Spain that morning. The only colder reading was at the Puerto Pico station in the province of Ávila, where temperatures fell to 4.8 degrees.
Another location in Cantabria also appeared among the country's coldest places: at the refuge Cabaña Verónica in the Picos de Europa a temperature of 7.4 degrees was recorded at 5.50 am. Within the region, lows were also recorded in higher-altitude and valley areas, including Alto Campoo at 8.3 degrees, Bárcena Mayor in the municipality of Los Tojos at 8.6 degrees, and Polientes in Valderredible at 8.9 degrees.
By contrast, the highest overnight readings on the coast were significantly higher. In San Vicente de la Barquera 19.8 degrees were recorded, in Santander 19.3 degrees, and at Seve Ballesteros Airport, also 19.3 degrees. In Torrelavega the monitoring network recorded 19.1 degrees, and in Castro Urdiales 18.9 degrees. The marked difference between cool inland and mountain areas and milder coastal locations reflects Cantabria's typical topographical and maritime influences: in valleys and sheltered high valleys, the air can cool more sharply on clear nights, while the coast benefits from the sea's moderating influence on temperatures.
The figures cited come from AEMET's automated observation network. Such rankings are compiled from readings from numerous stations and refer to daily extremes. They are of short-term meteorological significance, for example for agriculture, tourism in high-altitude areas and municipal services that use early readings for irrigation, plant protection or infrastructure planning.
Climatological context requires longer time series and reference values. These individual observations therefore do not support any reliable conclusions about trends. AEMET regularly points out in its publications that daily extremes should be interpreted in the context of data spanning several years. What is clear for 1 September is that Reinosa, at 6.3 degrees, was among Spain's coldest places; that morning, temperatures ranged from just under five degrees in inland Castile to almost 20 degrees on the Cantabrian coast.
All times refer to local time in Spain on 1 September. AEMET is cited as the source of the readings; regional media picked up and circulated the figures that morning.
Editor: Andreas M. Brucker (Article created with AI assistance).