Catalonia's not-so-white Christmas day after recording warmest temperatures in decades

"I'm dreaming of a White Christmas," artist Irving Berlin wrote for the 1942 Holiday Inn movie. Decades after, Catalonia celebrated its not-so-white Christmas day in 2022 after recording the warmest temperatures in decades.

On December 25, the Catalan meteorological administration, MeteoCat, registered its highest temperature ever recorded in the month of December, after Anglès in the northern-east part of the territory registered 26.3ºC. 

These figures surpassed last year's record of December 28, 2021, when Alcanar, Catalonia's southernmost town, registered 24.9ºC. 

Temperatures did not reach high levels in just a few areas across Catalonia, including the northern-east part of the Empordà, the southern area of Terres de l'Ebre, the central Ponent counties, and the Pyrenees 

Overall, December 25 saw the warmest temperature recorded in 21 of the 153 automatic meteorological stations across Catalonia. All of them have been working for more than ten years.

Some of these stations include Barcelona, where experts recorded 21.7ºC on December 25, surpassing 0.3ºC the previous day's record.