Climate
Climate of Cabañeros
Dry summers, rains that change the landscape and contrasts between the rañas and the mountains.
A Mediterranean climate with contrasts
Cabañeros has a Mediterranean climate with continental influence. Summer concentrates the drought, while rain plays a major part in spring and autumn. Snow appears occasionally, most often between December and April. This is how the Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales describes it in its information on the park’s climate (in Spanish).
The relief means that conditions are not the same everywhere. Sunny and shady slopes receive different sunshine and humidity; in addition, temperature inversions can cool the rañas more than we would expect from their altitude. That is why a figure for one station does not on its own describe the whole of Cabañeros.
Temperatures and rainfall: a reference from the park’s book
The Guía de visita del Parque Nacional de Cabañeros, published by the Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales in 2011, gives these data for the Retuerta del Bullaque station:
| Data given in the guide | Value |
|---|---|
| Mean annual temperature | 12.4 °C |
| Mean temperature in December | 3.9 °C |
| Mean temperature in July | 23.8 °C |
| Mean annual precipitation | 586.4 mm |
These are climate data published in that edition, not a forecast or averages updated to this year. The section consulted does not state the observation period used. You can read the original explanation on pages 36 and 37 of the park guide, available as a PDF (in Spanish).
The climate can also be read in the vegetation
The hard, persistent leaves of much of the Mediterranean woodland help to limit water loss during the dry season. Holm oaks tolerate water scarcity better; Portuguese oaks and cork oaks look for damper conditions, and Pyrenean oaks need even more moisture. The woodlands of Cabañeros let you recognise these differences as you walk through the landscape. This relationship between climate and vegetation is described by the OAPN Global Change Monitoring Network.
The last few years, at the Alcornoquera station
The figures in the guide are averages from years ago. To see how the park’s climate really behaves, it is enough to look at what the Alcornoquera weather station, inside the park, has measured in recent hydrological years, which run from October to September. The data are those the park publishes in its newsletter «Desde el parque» (all the newsletters):
- 2022–2023, the drought: by April only 353 litres per square metre had fallen, 225 of them in the first two weeks of December. So far in 2023, 37 litres. The Torre de Abraham reservoir dropped to 21 % and amphibians, which depend on ponds and streams, were among those that suffered most.
- 2023–2024, the turnaround: from October to February 431.7 litres fell, and the year ended with 736.9, the second wettest of the last 18. March alone brought 214.2 litres, with a rain-soaked Easter that forced several routes to close. The reservoir went from 24 % in February to 74 % in April. Then summer came: highs of between 35 and 40 °C, with 40.8 °C on 24 July 2024.
- 2024–2025: in January 2025 the reservoir was still at 66 %. Summer brought the most intense heatwave recorded in Spain, 16 days in August, and at the Alcornoquera 40.8 °C was marked again, this time on 11 August.
- 2025–2026, the storm: January 2026 was the wettest of the last quarter-century according to AEMET. At the Alcornoquera 134.3 mm fell in January and 207.1 in February, and on 7 February the Torre de Abraham reservoir began to overflow for the first time in 13 years, the third time since the 1990s. Storm Ingrid, on 24 January, also left snow on the Rocigalgo.
From one year to the next, the same park goes from dry ponds to routes closed by floods. If you go after a storm, call the park first (926 783 297); if you go in summer, start early.
The weather on the day of your visit
Before choosing an outing it is worth checking the forecast for temperature, rain and wind. AEMET offers day-by-day and hour-by-hour predictions for Horcajo de los Montes. Its data refer to the town itself: they may vary elsewhere in the municipality and in the mountains.
Sources consulted
- Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales. Guía de visita del Parque Nacional de Cabañeros, 2011 edition, section «Clima», pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-84-8014-807-8. Book as PDF.
- MITECO–OAPN. El clima en el Parque Nacional de Cabañeros y su relación con la biodiversidad.
- Newsletter «Desde el parque», Cabañeros National Park (OAPN): March–April 2023, January–February, March–April, July–August and September–October 2024, January–February and July–August 2025, January–February 2026 (in Spanish). All the newsletters.
- AEMET. Predicción para Horcajo de los Montes.
Sources consulted on 7 October 2026.