Soaring temperatures have led the authorities to activate their anti-heat plans, which determine the different levels of risk for the population and make it possible to adapt the timetables of schools and outdoor work.
Spain is facing its first heat wave of the summer, with temperatures that exceeded 44 degrees on Monday in the south of the country, according to the meteorological agency (Aemet), which has placed several regions in a state of emergency. ‘alert.
This heat wave, which began on Sunday, pushed the thermometer above 38 degrees in Madrid and 44.4 degrees in El Granado, Andalusia (southwest), according to Aemet.
On Sunday, the mercury had already reached 43.8 degrees in this municipality located near the border with Portugal, according to the meteorological agency, which forecasts a return of temperatures to a more bearable level in the middle of the week.
In Seville (southwest), where the thermometer reached 42.9 degrees on Monday, soaring temperatures forced many workers to change their schedules to avoid heatstroke.
More and more heat waves
A country on the front line of global warming in Europe, Spain is used to extreme temperatures, especially in the south, but it has been facing an increase and intensification of heat waves in recent years, according to scientists.
“For ten years, the frequency of these heat episodes has tripled compared to previous years. This goes hand in hand with the lengthening of the duration of the (meteorological) summer by about ten days per decade since the 1980s” , underlined Ruben del Campo, spokesperson for Aemet.
At the end of April, a mass of hot, dry air from North Africa had already caused an absolute record temperature for the month of April in mainland Spain with 38.8 degrees, a level worthy of the month of July.
This phenomenon “would have been almost impossible without climate change”, demonstrated a study published by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) a few days later.
Source: BFM TV
