Spain suffers the first heat wave of the summer, with maximum temperatures above 40ºC, according to the forecast of the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET).
The AEMET has decreed alert in several regions, including the provinces of Cadiz, Córdoba, Seville, Jaen, Ciudad Real, Toledo, Badajoz, and Madrid, which will be on orange alert, as will Gran Canaria, in the province of Las Palmas, along with Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.
The agency warns that, with an orange alert, there is a significant risk of unusual weather phenomena and a certain degree of danger to people.
The heat wave began on Sunday and is expected to continue throughout the week. According to the AEMET, on Monday temperatures exceeded 38 ºC in Madrid and reached 44.4 ºC in the Andalusian town of El Granado, in the province of Huelva (southwest).
The weather agency indicated that the heat will put Girona and Lleida (northwest), both with yellow warnings for rain and storms, at risk. The Andalusian provinces of Seville and Córdoba will be the capitals that reach the highest temperatures, with 42ºC and 43ºC, respectively.
Estamos en un episodio de #OlaDeCalor. Es la primera del verano de 2023 y llega en junio. Probablemente, en su transcurso, se lleguen a alcanzar los 44 ºC. ¿Hay más olas de calor actualmente en junio? ¿Y a lo largo del verano? Hilo �� pic.twitter.com/LjqucibVR6
— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp)
June 25, 2023
We are in an episode of Heat Wave. It is the first of the summer of 2023 and arrives in June. Probably, in its course, it will reach 44 ºC. Are there more heat waves currently in June? And throughout the summer?
In view of this situation, the AEMET recommends carefully following the instructions of the “National Plan of preventive actions of the effects of excess temperatures on health,” available on its website.
According to Rubén del Campo, AEMET spokesman, “the frequency of these warm episodes in approximately the last decade triples that of previous years. This is in line with the lengthening of summers at a rate of about 10 days per decade since the 1980s.”
March 2023 was the second-warmest March with the least rainfall in the entire 21st century. At the end of March, high temperatures caused a wave of fires that lasted several days in both eastern and northern Spain.
Also, at the end of April, a very early wave of extreme temperatures set the absolute record for an April month in peninsular Spain at 38.8 ºC, a level more typical of months like July or August.
