Lorraine Williamson
The end of the first heatwave of the summer is near. This has been confirmed by the Spanish weather service AEMET. From Thursday, a front with cold air will reach Spain. That means temperatures will drop considerably. Rain may also start to fall in some areas.
AEMET predicts that temperatures will gradually drop from Thursday. And these then seem to normalise. In addition, an Atlantic current is likely to cause persistent rainfall in the far north of the peninsula. Later, the rain could reach the Iberian Peninsula and other mountain systems to the north and east of the mainland. However, Wednesday remains another warm day, due to the arrival of warm air from Africa.
End of the first heatwave of 2023
The first heatwave this summer was Spain’s eighth heatwave in June since 2011. Moreover, that is alarming. In the previous 35 years, only five heat waves were recorded in the first days of summer. It was extremely hot and, according to AEMET, June 25 was even the hottest day of the year so far. It is the 12th day this year on which record temperatures were broken compared to those recorded on the same day in previous years.
Heatwave claimed at least 11 victims
According to death figures from the Carlos III institute, since the first day of the heatwave on 23 June, the heat has claimed at least 11 victims. The worst day was Saturday, when eight people died from causes attributable to heat. This is different again from deaths due to heat stroke, from which two farm workers have died in recent days.