A 16-day heatwave Spain suffered this month was “the most intense on record,” the country’s State Meteorological Agency said on Sunday.
Provisional readings for the August 3-18 heatwave exceeded the last record, set in July 2022, and showed an average temperature 4.6°C higher than for previous such phenomena, the agency said on X.
The August heatwave exacerbated tinderbox conditions in Spain that fuelled wildfires that continue to ravage parts of the north and west of the country.
More than 1,100 deaths in Spain have been linked to the heatwave, according to an estimate released Tuesday by the Carlos III Health Institute.
Since it began its records in 1975, AEMET has registered 77 heatwaves in Spain, with six of them going 4°C or more above the average—five of those since 2019.
Scientists say climate change is driving longer, more intense, and more frequent heat waves worldwide.
AEMET said a 10-day period within the last heatwave, covering August 8 and 17, was the hottest 10 consecutive days recorded in Spain “since, at least, 1950.”
The agency said that it is “a scientific fact that current summers are hotter than in previous decades.”
It added, “Each summer is not always going to be hotter than the previous one, but there is a clear trend towards much more extreme summers. What is key is adapting to and mitigating climate change.”
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