Weather in Malaga January 2020

The average maximum temperature during January 2020 in Malaga was 16.9 Celsius (63F), and that was exactly normal for the time of year.  The average minimum temperature was 9.3 Celsius (49F), and that was also normal for January.

The highest temperature recorded during the month was  23.4 Celsius (74F) on the 31st, but the temperature reached 22.8 Celsius (73F) on the 30th. The only other day with a maximum above 20 Celsius (68F) was the 17th when 20.1 Celsius (68F) was recorded. On most days(20) maxima were in the range 15 to 18 Celsius (59-64F) and that included each of the first 16 days of the month. There were a few cooler days, with temperatures remaining below 15 Celsius (59F) with all these cooler days (5)  occurring between the 20th and 25th. Highs were above 14 Celsius (57F) on all bar 1 day. That was the 20th when the temperature only reached 11.6 Celsius (53F).

There were not many mild nights during January, and only 9 had minimum temperatures above 10 Celsius (50F). The 5th, with a low of 10.9 Celsius (52F), was the only one of these milder nights during the first 18 days of the new year. and although a further 4 nights had lows above 10 Celsius (50F) between the 19th and 27th, none of them stayed above 11 Celsius (52F). The last 4 nights of the month were much milder, with lows of 13.4 Celsius (56F), 11.6 Celsius (53F), 12.6 Celsius (55F) and 13 Celsius (55F) respectively. All the cooler nights in January occurred during the first fortnight. On 7 nights the temperature fell below 8 Celsius (46F), but only 1 night, the 8th, had a minimum below 7 Celsius (45F). On that night the temperature dipped to 6.6 Celsius (44F).

The sea temperature stayed around 15 Celsius (59F) during the first 3 weeks, but fell to between 12 and 14 Celsius (54-57F) after the 21st, before struggling up close to 15 Celsius (59F) on the last 2 days of the month.

There were  113.0  millimetres (4.4 ins.) of rain during January, and that was over 210% of the monthly average. It was the wettest January for 10 years and broke the drought that had enveloped the area for more than a year. There were 6 days with measurable rain, which was 1 below normal. The first 17 days of January were dry, but light rain occurred on the afternoon of the 18th. However, only 0.3 millimetres (0.01 ins.) were measured. It then stayed dry until the 21st. Torrential rain fell for a while in the evening of the 21st, and the total of 19.1 miilimetres (0.75 ins.) was the highest since September. Heavy rain overnight into 22nd, plus further rain late in the evening, contributed another 20.1 millimetres (0.8 ins.) A showery day on the 23rd produced more than 5 miilimetres (0.2 ins.) of rain, with overnight and evening rain giving 17 millimetres (0.7 ins) on the 24th. However, there was worse to come. Torrential overnight rain, along with further bursts of rain during the day, added up to 51.3 millimetres (2 ins.) by the evening. It was the wettest January day for 10 years and proved to be the last rain of the month. The 5-day unsettled spell contributed 112.7 millimetres (4.4 ins.) to the annual total. This was the equivalent of 62% of the amount for the whole of 2019!

Thunder

There were 4 days with thunder in West Malaga during January. Thunder occurred during the early hours of the 22nd with further storms in the evening. Further thunder occurred at times during the night, morning and early afternoon of the 23rd, although the centres of the storms were mainly to the east and north. More thunderstorms were observed overnight on the 25th.

Although no hail was seen in this part of western Malaga, the centre had a severe hailstorm before dawn on the 23rd. In places, the hail was 30 centimetres (12 ins.) deep, and caused considerable problems for the early morning commuters.

January was considerably less breezy than the preceding 2 months. In fact, the first 18 days mostly had gentle or moderate northwesterly land breezes with the occasional light or gentle southeasterly sea breezes. The 19th was windier with a northwesterly gust of 23 knots (26 mph) occurring. The only other gusts above 20 knots (23 mph) occurred during the thundery spell between the 22nd and 25th. Some ferocious short-lived bursts of wind occurred. These often blowing from the east when otherwise northwest winds prevailed. This resulted in gusts of 27 knots (31 mph) on the 22nd, 34 knots (39 mph) on the 23rd, 28 knots (32 mph) on the 24th and 32 knots (37 mph) on the 25th.

There was no fog observed in this part of Malaga during January.

Reporting Station	Highest Temp	Lowest Temp	Rain Total (mm)	Wettest	Rain days
Malaga Airport	23.5	4.5	141	81	7
Malaga Harbour	24.5	8.7	111	43	6
Fuengirola	N/a	N/a	69	31	6
Granada Airport	19.4	-4.7	33	19	6
Almeria	21.4	5.6	20	13	5
Seville	18.8	3.2	54	17	7
Cordoba	19.1	0.1	45	20	7
Jerez de la Frontera	20.5	0.0	74	24	7
Murcia	22.6	0.7	72	41	6