Spain experienced a severe heatwave on Sunday, the fourth and final of the season, with unusually high temperatures in the north-east and south of the country.
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Temperatures soared across most of the Iberian Peninsula on Sunday, even topping 40 degrees in the Catalog and Aragon regions of northeastern Spain, weather agency AEMET said.
Meteorologists pointed out that this latest heat wave was due to strong sunshine directly over a hot air mass and that this heat wave had particularly affected the Northeast and the basins of the country’s main rivers.
AFP
In Madrid, where temperatures hovered around 38 degrees, many complained about the effects of heatstroke on their sleep.
“The worst thing about a heat wave is that you don’t sleep well at night,” said Antonio Tort, a 69-year-old from Madrid.
The heatwave is expected to last through Thursday, with maximum temperatures reaching Monday or Tuesday.
major fire
Hundreds of firefighters have been fighting a fire on the tourist island of Tenerife in the Spanish Canary archipelago since Tuesday, which has already forced more than 12,000 people to flee their homes.
The fire erupted after a heatwave hit the archipelago off the west coast of Africa and dried out much of the island.
AFP
In 2022, more than 500 fires destroyed 300,000 hectares in Spain, a record in Europe, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis). In 2023, nearly 76,000 hectares will have burned in this country, on the front lines of global warming.
According to Effis, since the beginning of the current year, Spain has registered 340 fires that have devastated almost 76,000 hectares.
Experts assume that extreme weather events have increased due to global warming. As a result, heat waves are likely to be more frequent and intense, and their impacts more widespread.