MADRID: Spain this yr sweltered by means of its hottest summer season ever, the nationwide meteorological company AEMET stated on Tuesday (Sep 16), the most recent in a string of worldwide temperature data.
The common temperature settled at 24.2°C, smashing the earlier document of 24.1°C set in 2022, and the best determine since data started in 1961, AEMET spokesman Ruben del Campo instructed a information convention.
9 of the ten hottest summers in Spain since 1961 have occurred within the twenty first century, he added.
“We actually are on this development towards a lot hotter summers,” the spokesman stated.
Spain endured a document 16-day heatwave in August which fuelled wildfires that killed 4 individuals, and which the Carlos III Well being Institute estimates triggered greater than 1,100 deaths – largely individuals older than 65.
Northwestern Spain, the place the worst wildfires erupted, skilled “a really dry, and even extraordinarily dry, summer season”, and this “mixture of excessive temperatures and really low rainfall” created beneficial circumstances for fires, Del Campo stated.
Of the 90 days of summer season, 33 had been marked by heatwaves, which means “a couple of in each three days this summer season, we skilled excessive temperatures”, he stated.
Heatwaves had been “extra sporadic” within the earlier century however have now change into common occasions, Del Campo added, noting the final summer season in Spain with out one was 2014.
AEMET has registered 77 heatwaves in Spain, with six going 4°C or extra above the common.
5 of these have been since 2019.
Scientists have warned persistently that human-driven local weather change is leading to extra frequent and intense climate occasions worldwide.
Britain, Japan and South Korea additionally endured the hottest summers this yr since every nation started holding data, in response to their climate companies.
