Vejret i Málaga (Costa del Sol) i maj

Regulars describe a genuine split within the month - the beginning still spring-like, cool evenings and a real chance of rain, while the back half turns properly summery, warmer evenings and rain becoming a rare event by the final week. Our row backs that mild-to-warm read averaging across that split, 24.9C over 16.4C nights, with rain already light at 28.9mm across 2.7 days and humidity at 69 percent. Regulars are consistent this counts as close to perfect overall despite the early-month variability, worth packing a light rain layer just in case rather than assuming summer has fully arrived on day one. The sea sits at a swimmable 20.6C by this point. The record: 12.5 hours of sun, a 12.8 kph wind and AQI 46.

Regulars put August in perspective rather than dismissing it: the city is seldom above 35C and it does cool at night, but between one and five in the afternoon there is no escape outdoors that is not air conditioned. The exception they all name is the terral, the hot wind that comes down off the inland hills - one of them describes it as somebody switching on a giant hair dryer - which lifts the temperature well past normal for a few days at a time. Our row gives 31.4C reading as 35C, nights holding 23.6C, and effectively no rain, 4.1mm across half a day. The sea column says 25.7C, but they warn it follows the wind that week: a poniente pulls colder Atlantic water along the coast. The record: humidity 68 percent, 12.5 hours of sun and AQI 54.

The June question here is always the water, and regulars give a reason rather than a number: this coast sits near the Atlantic, so it runs colder than the rest of the Mediterranean. They put early June at 17C with 19C as the point most people find comfortable, and they still swim - Malagueta is busy. Our row reads 21.8C, warmer than any of their figures, so treat the sea as somewhere in that range and the first week as the coldest of it. On land the month is easy: 28.8C by day, 20.1C at night, 4.2mm of rain across 0.8 days and 13.3 hours of sun. The record: humidity 63 percent, a 12.7 kph wind and AQI 47.

July in Malaga is one of the two hottest months and regulars correct the brochure figure: 32 to 35C is the normal day, and 30C is a cooler one - our row's 31.1C reads as 35C. Their practical shape of the day is to get everything done before one o'clock and start again after six. The nights are the part people underestimate; they are very warm in July and August, and the advice is blunt that you need air conditioning to sleep. Humidity around 60 percent sounds worse than it is, because the sea breeze carries it off. On the beach: it will be full, the dark sand is hot enough to need footwear, and shade is scarce enough that you bring your own. The record: 22.6C nights, 0.1 precipitation days, 13.1 hours of sun and a 26.5C sea.

September is the month the Malaga forum recommends without argument: the July and August heat has abated into something posters call tolerable, while the sea stays warm enough to swim and unheated pools hold around 28C to the end of the month. The shape of the month matters - the first week is still very much summer, the last is noticeably cooler. Crowds thin after the start of September without emptying out; regulars describe it as busy but not superbusy. Rain is barely part of the conversation. The record: 28.7C days that feel like 31C, 21C nights, just 1.6 precipitation days, 11 hours of sun, a 25.6C sea and AQI 43.