Second Summer Heatwave Peaks in Spain: Alerts in Sixteen Regions

Spain's second summer heatwave, covering almost the entire country, has reached its peak. The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) has issued storm and temperature warnings in 16 autonomous communities. The record figures are being recorded against the backdrop of a global WHO report finding that Europe is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world.

Extreme Heat and the Threat of Storms

On Tuesday, the temperature situation reached a critical point. A red (highest) weather-danger level is in effect in Aragon, Catalonia, and the Valencian Community. In particular, in the Ebro river valley (Zaragoza, Huesca, Teruel, Lleida, and Tarragona), highs are exceeding 42–43 degrees. On Valencia's southern coast, in the Carcaixent area, thermometers could climb as high as 44 degrees.

An orange threat level has been set in as many as 10 regions, including Andalusia, Castilla y León, Madrid, the Basque Country, Murcia, and the Canary Islands. Across nearly the entire peninsula, temperatures are firmly exceeding 36–38 degrees. The daytime heat is accompanied by gruelling tropical nights: on the Mediterranean coast, in the southwest, and in the Canary Islands, the temperature doesn't drop below 20 degrees, while in the valleys of the Ebro, Tagus, Guadiana, and Guadalquivir, it stays above 25 degrees.

At the same time, an influx of cold air at altitude is triggering strong atmospheric instability in the central part of the peninsula. In five regions, including Madrid, Álava, Guadalajara, and Cantabria, warnings have been issued for thunderstorms with gusty winds.

According to meteorologists' forecasts, the heatwave conditions will hold at least until Thursday. In the second half of the week, a low-pressure trough is expected to arrive from the Atlantic, and possibly an isolated upper-level depression (DANA), bringing a significant cooldown.

Why Is Europe Warming So Rapidly?

The current upheavals in Spain are a vivid illustration of a large-scale climate shift. According to data from the European State of the Climate report (ESOTC), Europe has been warming by 0.56 degrees every decade since the mid-1990s. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stresses that this continent is warming faster than anywhere else in the world.

Climatology expert Jorge Olcina, in an interview with the outlet 20minutos, explains this process through several factors. Among them are changes in atmospheric circulation (which make heatwaves more frequent), the rapid melting of Arctic ice, and, paradoxically, a reduction in air pollution levels: modern regulations have cut the amount of aerosols in the air, meaning less solar radiation is reflected into space.

In this climate system, Spain acts as a "doorway" for Saharan air into Europe. According to Olcina, the country sits on the border between polar air masses, which are becoming less cold, and masses from the Sahara, which are becoming ever hotter. The situation is made worse by the Mediterranean Sea, which has warmed by 1.5 degrees since 1982 and, at the height of summer, behaves like a tropical basin with a water temperature of 28–29 degrees.

In Valencia, many people escape the heat in shopping malls, but the city has dozens of other places where you can wait out the hottest hours of the day for free. La Cotorra has picked out the city's most interesting climate shelters.