ARCHIVED - Spain braced for temperatures of up to 47 degrees on Saturday

The first official heatwave of 2021 is being forecast by the Spanish meteorological agency

Following the warnings published this week by the IPCC concerning the irreversible effects of climate change, Spain is braced for the arrival of the first heatwave of the summer over the weekend of August 13 to 15, with temperatures set to top 45 degrees in various parts of Andalucía and possibly the Region of Murcia.

There have already been extremely high temperatures in southern Spain this summer – on July 11 the maximum reached 44 degrees in Murcia – but these have occurred only in very brief episodes which are not classified by the Spanish met office (Aemet) as heatwaves. This time, though, Aemet are forecasting with a probability level of over 80 per cent that almost all of mainland Spain will be affected between Wednesday and Sunday, with the exception of the far north and north-west.

By Wednesday temperatures are expected to reach 40 degrees in parts of Andalucía and as the weekend begins maximums are expected to climb to 46 or 47 in Sevilla, Córdoba and Granada, and only slightly lower in Murcia and the rest of Andalucía. At the same time, night-time minimums could be as high as 26 degrees before the conditions gradually begin to cool down after the weekend.

Image: Aemet