#Spain #Portugal #smolder #heat #wave
Temperatures are expected to soar above 40 degrees Celsius across much of Spain and Portugal on Monday as the Iberian Peninsula faces a second heatwave in less than a month.
The mercury should reach 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit) in Spain’s southeastern region of Extremadura and 41 degrees in Andalusia, Spain’s weather agency AEMET said.
Temperatures in Spain’s normally cooler north-western region of Galicia are expected to soar above 35C.
“This heatwave really has the potential to be extraordinary,” said AEMET spokesman Ruben del Campo.
The heatwave started on Sunday and could last “nine or 10 days, making it one of the three longest heatwaves Spain has experienced since 1975,” he told AFP.
Heat waves have become more likely due to climate change, scientists say. As global temperatures rise over time, heat waves are expected to become more frequent and intense.
Spain also struggled in June with temperatures exceeding 40°C in parts of the country.
And the previous month was Spain’s hottest May since the beginning of the century.
In August 2021, Spain recorded its highest temperature ever when the mercury reached 47.4°C in the southern town of Montoro.
In neighboring Portugal, thermometers topped 44C over the weekend, fueling wildfires and huge plumes of smoke visible in the capital Lisbon.
Firefighters brought the largest fire burning in the central municipality of Ourem under control on Monday, local officials said.
While temperatures eased somewhat in Portugal on Monday, they should rise again in the coming days, with 44C for the southeastern city of Evora.
Water reservoirs in Spain were at 45.3 percent of capacity on Monday, well below the 65.7 percent average recorded during this period over the past decade.
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