The Spanish state meteorological agency (AEMET) has warned that from this weekend the country will be hit by a new wave of extreme heat, which could become the second official heat wave of this summer, bTV reported.
The warning comes just days after the first heat wave, which is believed to have contributed to nearly 900 deaths in June, according to the Spanish Ministry of Health's MoMo mortality monitoring system, BGNES reported.
According to AEMET, a very hot air mass will move towards Portugal and Spain, which will lead to a prolonged increase in day and night temperatures, writes „Euronews“.
The most affected are expected to be The regions of Extremadura and Andalusia, especially the Guadalquivir River Valley, where orange warnings have been issued for temperatures between 40 and 42 degrees. A yellow code has also been declared for parts of the Ebro River Valley, the Pyrenees in the province of Lleida and the southern part of the island of Gran Canaria.
Temperatures will continue to rise over the weekend and into the first days of next week. The heatwave will also affect the Canary Islands, where maximum temperatures of up to 38 degrees are expected, as well as tropical nights with minimum temperatures above 20-23 degrees, and in places - up to 28-30 degrees.
The increase in temperatures will also be felt in the northern parts of the country, especially in Galicia, where such heatwaves are more unusual.
For a heatwave to be officially declared, temperatures must significantly exceed the climate norm, the phenomenon must last at least three days and affect at least 10% of the territory of Spain. According to current forecasts, these conditions are likely to be met.
Spain ended June with the second hottest June since statistics were kept, with an average temperature 3.2 degrees above normal. According to AEMET, half of all June heatwaves recorded since 1975 have occurred after 2015, which shows an accelerating trend in recent years.