'Up to 43 degrees': Spain braces for scorching second half of June
It may still be the last days of spring but Spain is preparing for a scorching week that experts believe will see summer-like temperatures and could last for the rest of the month.
A mass of warm air will settle over Spain from Monday, causing the mercury to soar to values more typical of mid-July or August. El Tiempo reporting suggests it could cause the first official heatwave of the summer.
'Temperatures of up to 43 degrees are expected,' Nacho Espinós, an expert at Meteored, told 20 Minutos. 'The data confirms that temperatures are well above average for this time of year.'
This follows news that mainland Spain recently recorded its hottest May day ever, with average temperatures over 24C, according to state weather agency Aemet.
For at least the rest of the week, the heat will be intense and widespread, except on the Cantabrian coast where sea breezes will mitigate the temperatures.
'Everything seems to indicate that the Cantabrian coast will be spared the extreme heat that will affect the rest of the peninsula, as the breeze will be key to preventing temperatures from soaring,' Meteored sources state, giving San Sebastián as an example, where forecasts indicate the Basque city will more manageable highs of 25 degrees between Wednesday and Thursday.
Seville could reach 43 degrees and Cordoba 41, while in other parts of the Guadalquivir valley temperatures could rise even beyond that.
In the Guadiana valley, the heat will also be extreme, with temperatures above 40 degrees in many towns and cities in Extremadura. In central Spain, such as in Madrid, temperatures will reach 38 degrees.
Though heat will be intense in most areas of the country, the highest temperatures are forecast in the south-west of the peninsula.
In eastern Spain along the Mediterranean coast, humidity will make the heat feel much more intense.
This heat blast will last at least a week and could stay for the rest of the month, forecasts say. 'Temperatures will be well above normal throughout next week,' Espinós explains. 'The maps point to a very hot second half of the month, but there's still a lot of uncertainty for the last few days.'
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Local Spain
16-06-2025
- Local Spain
'Up to 43 degrees': Spain braces for scorching second half of June
It may still be the last days of spring but Spain is preparing for a scorching week that experts believe will see summer-like temperatures and could last for the rest of the month. A mass of warm air will settle over Spain from Monday, causing the mercury to soar to values more typical of mid-July or August. El Tiempo reporting suggests it could cause the first official heatwave of the summer. 'Temperatures of up to 43 degrees are expected,' Nacho Espinós, an expert at Meteored, told 20 Minutos. 'The data confirms that temperatures are well above average for this time of year.' This follows news that mainland Spain recently recorded its hottest May day ever, with average temperatures over 24C, according to state weather agency Aemet. For at least the rest of the week, the heat will be intense and widespread, except on the Cantabrian coast where sea breezes will mitigate the temperatures. 'Everything seems to indicate that the Cantabrian coast will be spared the extreme heat that will affect the rest of the peninsula, as the breeze will be key to preventing temperatures from soaring,' Meteored sources state, giving San Sebastián as an example, where forecasts indicate the Basque city will more manageable highs of 25 degrees between Wednesday and Thursday. Seville could reach 43 degrees and Cordoba 41, while in other parts of the Guadalquivir valley temperatures could rise even beyond that. In the Guadiana valley, the heat will also be extreme, with temperatures above 40 degrees in many towns and cities in Extremadura. In central Spain, such as in Madrid, temperatures will reach 38 degrees. Though heat will be intense in most areas of the country, the highest temperatures are forecast in the south-west of the peninsula. In eastern Spain along the Mediterranean coast, humidity will make the heat feel much more intense. This heat blast will last at least a week and could stay for the rest of the month, forecasts say. 'Temperatures will be well above normal throughout next week,' Espinós explains. 'The maps point to a very hot second half of the month, but there's still a lot of uncertainty for the last few days.'
Local Spain
09-06-2025
- Local Spain
How hot will this summer be in Spain?
Forecasts from Spain's meteorological experts indicate that we are entering yet another record-breaking summer. Spain's national weather agency Aemet has said that between June 1st and August 31st, the conditions point to the fact that it will be hotter than usual across the whole country. The Mediterranean coast and the islands stand out as the areas most likely to see above-average temperatures during this time. Aemet meteorologists indicate that during next three months, 60 percent of temperatures will be above normal in most of the peninsula, and 70 percent of temperatures will be hotter than usual in the Mediterranean area and the archipelagos. To reach these conclusions, experts at the national meteorology body have created hundreds of mathematical models based on thousands of factors, such as air and ocean temperatures and ambient humidity. From there, a rough outline of what the weather will be like over the coming months is provided, based on trends from each region. This year, the models have predicted that there is a 60 percent chance that it will be hotter than usual, a 30 percent chance that it will be in line with expectations, and a 10 percent chance that it will be colder than normal. Currently, Aemet is using the average recorded data between 1991 and 2020 as its reference period. This means that everything points to this summer being warmer compared to the average of the last thirty years. It will also be above the usual values of the 1960s, which is when meteorological records officially began in Spain. While it will be much warmer than normal, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will break all the records, however, or that it will be more extreme than the summer of 2022, which remains the hottest ever recorded in Spain. A a whole, 2023 was the second hottest year since records began while 2024 was the third hottest. It's worth noting though that in 2023, during the months of June, July and August 2023, 552 temperature records were broken across Spain for average, maximum and minimum temperatures, according to a study carried out by weather website And in 2024, heat records for April were broken, which saw summer-like temperatures in spring. This year, we have already seen a record-breaking May as mainland Spain experienced its hottest ever May 30th, with the average temperature surpassing 24C, according to Aemet. Experts indicate this is all likely due to climate change and global warming where summers are starting earlier than usual and reaching increasingly higher temperatures, causing more extreme heatwaves and lasting longer than normal too. The World Meteorological Organisation estimates that this trend will continue for at least the next five years, when new temperature records are expected to be broken across the planet.
Local Spain
24-03-2025
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Will all the recent rain prevent drought in Spain this summer?
Several places in Spain experienced a severe drought from 2021 to 2024, including Catalonia, Andalusia and parts of Valencia, with reservoir levels at some of their lowest levels since records began in 1918. But, after intense flooding in the eastern and southern parts of the country in October last year and three weeks of intense rain and storms across Spain in March 2025 - how are the levels now? Overall, reservoir levels in Spain have increased by 2,751 cubic hectometres, meaning that the total water reserve in the peninsula's reservoirs has increased by almost five percentage points, to 65.8 percent. This is nine points higher than last year at this time (56.8 percent) and six points above the average water storage over the last ten years (59.2 percent). Reservoirs specifically used for human consumption and agriculture are currently at 60.8 percent capacity, according to data from the latest Hydrological Bulletin, published by the Ministry for Ecological Transition. This is 4.1 percentage points higher than the previous week, when reserves have increased by 1,607 cubic hectometers. This means the volume of water in reservoirs for human consumption has reached 23,575 hm³, meaning that in most of Spain there is now much more water stored up than at the same time last year. It is also 7.5 points better than the average value of the last decade which is 53.3 percent. It's important to note though that the situation is not the same across the whole country. There are areas of Spain, particularly in the southeast, where the reservoirs are still at low levels. The basins with the lowest water storage relative to their capacity are the Segura basin between Almería and Alicante is only at 14.8 percent capacity, San Clemente in the Guadalquivir is at 10.3 percent capacity and Cuevas de Almanzora is only at 9.3 percent. Those with the highest capacities are Los Melonares (Guadalquivir) at 100 percent, Villar del Rey (Guadiana) at 100 percent and San Rafael de Navallana (Guadalquivir) at 99.4 percent. inland basins have reached nearly 700 cubic hectometres. Medium to long-term picture However, it's not as simple as a rainy spell refilling reservoirs and ending drought conditions and the water restrictions that come with them. As noted above, droughts have been a problem in Spain for some years now. This has prompted water restrictions in various parts of the country since 2021, and though you might've thought the recent rainfall meant measures could soon be lifted, experts say it's not quite that simple. Environmental specialist Miguel Aguado told Spanish news site 20minutos that "We have to get used to restrictions. The water issue is like money: we can only save it when we have it. Therefore, we must not relax at all… At home we should continue to make responsible use of water because, believe it or not these days, we are going to continue to have drought." This is due to the fact that despite the heavy rainfall in the last few weeks and the DANA downpours of late-2024, if we zoom out and take a medium to long-term view, ministry data reveals a more complicated picture that points to the underlying drought conditions in parts of the country. Though water levels in reservoirs and river basins have improved, the irregular distribution of rainfall, concentrated in specific areas, means many reservoirs aren't as full as the rain might've suggested. It's also true that, although March 2025 is already the rainiest in history in Madrid and Extremadura since records began, it has not been so at the national level. So far in March, Spain has recorded accumulations of 97 l/m2. But in March 2018, for example, it recorded 162 l/m2, and in 2013, 166l/m2, according to Aemet records. In essence, however many cubic metres of rain have soaked Spain in the last few weeks and months, many reservoirs came into this surprise rainy season with incredibly low reserves due to longer-term drought conditions, and the rain wasn't even distributed anyway. The Serena reservoir in Badajoz, for example, has still not reached half capacity despite the downpours. It currently has 1,571 cubic hectometres of water, which represents just 48.8 percent of its total capacity. The Segura basin between Almería and Alicante and San Clemente in the Guadalquivir, though somewhat replenished this month, were at critically low levels before. The main explanation lies in the unequal distribution of rainfall between the different river basins and the areas particularly hit by drought beforehand. Experts point out that rainfall has caused rivers in the Tagus basin, such as the Alberche, the Jarama, the Henares, the Guadarrama, the Manzanares and even the Tagus itself in some areas, to overflow. However, the Guadiana basin, to which the Serena reservoir belongs, has not received the same amount of rain. The data confirms this. While the Tagus river basin has gained 835 cubic hectometres in the last week alone — an increase of 7.55 percent that brings the basin to up to 75.04 percent capacity — the Guadiana river basin gained 522 cubic hectometres of water in the same period, a percentage increase of just 5.47 percent, which takes capacity to just 56.35 percent. As alluded to above, another important factor is the starting point — did the recent heavy rains help reservoirs fill up closer to capacity, or were they simply recouping some of the lost water due to drought conditions? The Serena reservoir came into the wet period with considerably low levels of capacity, something that has made it difficult for it to exceed the 50 percent mark, even with the recorded rainfall. This is because, experts say, the size of the reservoir also plays a role. The Serena, which is the largest reservoir in Spain and the third largest in Europe, requires a significantly greater amount of water to reach high capacity percentages compared to other smaller reservoirs that have been refilled more substantially due to the rain in recent weeks.
