Editing Alcalá de Henares (section)

== Geography ==
=== Location ===
[[File:Alcalá de Henares (ESA 16-11-2015) vista desde el satélite Sentinel-2A.png|thumb|right|upright=1.3|Alcalá de Henares as seen by the [[Sentinel-2]] of the [[European Space Agency]]]]
Alcalá de Henares is located in the central part of the [[Iberian Peninsula]], in the southern half of the [[Meseta Central|Inner Plateau]]. It lies on the valley of the [[Henares]], a left-bank tributary of the [[Jarama]], which is in turn a right-bank tributary of the [[Tagus]]. The right (north) bank of the river (on which the current urban nucleus was built) displays a very flat relief with a series of quaternary [[fluvial terrace]]s, while the left (southern) bank features a very steep slope of [[clay]]s from the [[miocene]],{{Sfn|Aranegui|Pacheco|1927|p=342}} rapidly rising up to the [[Moorland|moors]] of [[La Alcarria]].

Standing at an average altitude of 654 m, and occupying some 88&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>; the city was for a long time contained in between the Henares to the South and the [[Madrid-Barcelona railway]] to the North. However, the increasing population brought on the sprawl of the urbanised area to the area located in between the railway and the [[Autovía A-2|A-2 motorway]] and beyond.

===Climate===
The climate in this city of central Spain is [[semi-arid climate|semi-arid]], with cold, dry winters and hot, dry summers. The average year-round temperature is {{convert|14|°C|0|abbr=on}}. The average year-round rainfall is about {{convert|300|mm|1|abbr=on}}, mainly in spring and autumn. Temperatures vary from some degrees below {{convert|0|°C|0|abbr=on}} in December and January to some over {{convert|40|°C|0|abbr=on}} in July and August. Dry season coincides with maximum heat in summer.

{{weather box
|metric first=yes
|single line=yes
|rain colour=green
|width=auto
|location=Alcalá de Henares, 1981–2010
|Jan high C = 11.0
|Feb high C = 13.3
|Mar high C = 17.5
|Apr high C = 19.1
|May high C = 23.5
|Jun high C = 29.9
|Jul high C = 33.8
|Aug high C = 33.1
|Sep high C = 28.2
|Oct high C = 21.2
|Nov high C = 15.0
|Dec high C = 11.3
|year high C = 
|Jan low C = 0.1
|Feb low C = 0.9
|Mar low C = 3.0
|Apr low C = 5.0
|May low C = 8.5
|Jun low C = 12.8
|Jul low C = 15.2
|Aug low C = 14.8
|Sep low C = 11.7
|Oct low C = 7.8
|Nov low C = 3.5
|Dec low C = 1.2
|year low C = 
|Jan rain mm = 24.8
|Feb rain mm = 25.1
|Mar rain mm = 17.7
|Apr rain mm = 35.6
|May rain mm = 38.2
|Jun rain mm = 19.6
|Jul rain mm = 9.6
|Aug rain mm = 8.4
|Sep rain mm = 19.8
|Oct rain mm = 38.0
|Nov rain mm = 35.6
|Dec rain mm = 34.2
|year rain mm = 
|source 1 = [[World Meteorological Organization]]<ref>{{cite web|url = https://worldweather.wmo.int/en/city.html?cityId=2174|title = World Weather Information Service – Alcala de Henares|publisher = World Meteorological Organization|access-date = November 12, 2022|archive-date = November 16, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221116202843/https://worldweather.wmo.int/en/city.html?cityId=2174|url-status = live}}</ref>
}}