Spain's state weather service AEMET has issued orange weather alerts across large parts of the country as a fresh heatwave brings temperatures of 40C or higher to mainland Spain, with the mercury set to reach 43C in Seville on Thursday.
The heatwave began on Wednesday and is expected to last until Friday. The alerts, in place from 1pm until 8.59pm local time on both Thursday and Friday, warn that weather conditions pose an "important hazard", particularly in the south.
Extreme heat spreads north and east
Thursday is expected to be the hottest day, with temperatures soaring to 43C in Seville, 42C in Córdoba and Jaén, and 40C in Cádiz, Granada and Huelva. On Friday, the extreme heat will spread into northern and eastern Spain, while easing in parts of the south - although temperatures are still forecast to reach 42C in Córdoba, 41C in Seville and 40C in Jaén.
Parts of Ciudad Real, Cáceres and Badajoz are also expected to hit 40C, while Barcelona, Toledo, Huesca, Zaragoza, Ávila, Lleida, Tarragona, Navarra and La Rioja could see highs of 39C. Meanwhile, parts of Madrid, Valencia, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura are likely to see temperatures between 37C and 38C.
Wildfire risk and heat-related deaths
Spain's Civil Protection service issued a warning on Tuesday over "very high and persistent temperatures" expected to last until Friday. It said the risk of wildfires would rise again to "extreme levels", with possible dry afternoon storms adding to the danger. Wildfires have burned through more than 295,000 hectares in Spain so far this year.
According to AEMET, the arrival of a DANA - a Spanish acronym for an isolated high-altitude depression - over the south-west of the Iberian Peninsula will draw a mass of warm, dry air carrying suspended dust across much of mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands. Combined with high levels of sunshine, this will drive temperatures to "very high levels for the time of year", the Public Protection service warned.
So far this year, Spain has recorded 5,232 heat-related deaths - the highest figure since the Daily Mortality Monitoring (MoMo) system began keeping records in 2015. In August alone, 2,147 deaths were attributed to high temperatures, according to provisional data available on Monday. This year's figure has already surpassed the previous annual record, set in 2022, when 4,789 heat-related deaths were recorded.
Hottest summer on record
The average temperature in mainland Spain between June 1 and August 31 was 26C - 2.5C above the 1991-2020 average, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE reported on Monday, citing AEMET data. At the end of last month, AEMET said it was "virtually certain" that 2026 will have been the hottest summer on record in mainland Spain.
AEMET said the heat could continue for several more days beyond Friday, although temperatures are expected to gradually ease. It comes after a Met Office report published in May found that there is an 86 per cent chance that at least one year between 2026 and 2030 will be hotter than 2024, currently the planet's warmest year on record. It also found that there is a 91 per cent chance that global temperatures will temporarily exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels in at least one of the next five years.
If global warming exceeds 1.5C - the target limit set by the Paris Agreement - the risk of severe climate impacts rises sharply. These include ecosystem damage, species extinction, more extreme weather, food and water insecurity, heat-related deaths and the loss of ancient ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, which would cause sea levels to rise dramatically.
