The climate of Granada (southern Spain) during the first third of the 18th century (1706–1730) according to documentary sources

Abstract. The climatic information recorded by the physician Francisco Fernández Navarrete in Granada (southern Spain) during the first third of the 18th century is analysed in this work. Observations are included in the book Cielo y suelo granadino (Sky and soil in Granada), and consist of qualitative comments relating climatic conditions to illness and diseases since 1706, as well as instrumental observations (using an English barometer and a Florentine thermometer) from December 1728 to February 1730. To the best of our knowledge, these are the earliest instrumental observations recorded in Spain. The analysis shows that seasonal mean values of temperature and precipitation during the period 1706–1730 were very similar to those of periods of similar length at the beginning of the 20th century, as 1906–1930. However, some years were especially extreme, such as the dry first half of the 1720s decade, or the winter 1728–1729, when a strong cold wave affected the city.