Spain faces 1st heatwave of the summer

Spain this week is facing its first heatwave of the summer, with 23 provinces showing yellow or orange alerts and the maximum temperatures reaching 43 degrees centigrade on Tuesday, according to the country's State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), reported Xinhua.

According to AEMET's forecast, the provinces of Cadiz, Cordoba, Seville, Jaen, Ciudad Real, Toledo, Badajoz and Madrid will be on orange alert, meaning there is a significant risk of extreme temperatures.

The current heatwave began on Sunday, and is expected to continue throughout the week. On Tuesday, temperatures are expected to rise in the Canary Islands, exceeding 34 degrees to 36 degrees in most of the interior of the southern half of the peninsula, the Ebro Valley and the Canary Islands. Temperatures could reach 38 degrees to 40 degrees in the valleys in the southwest of the peninsula.

According to a study by the Center for Land Policy and Valuations (CPSV) at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the average increase in temperatures in the main cities of the peninsula between 1971 and 2022 has been 3.54 degrees.

As a result of the sweltering heat over the next few days, AEMET recommends following the guidelines in the "National plan of preventive actions for the effects of excess temperatures on health", available on its website. AEMET also warns that, with an orange alert, there is a significant risk of unusual meteorological phenomena creating some danger.

March 2023 saw the least rainfall in the entire 21st century, making it the second-warmest month of March since 2000, and the third-warmest since records began in 1961. At the end of March, high temperatures caused a wave of wildfires that lasted for several days in both eastern and northern Spain.