MADRID: Spain this yr sweltered by means of its hottest summer time ever, the nationwide meteorological company AEMET stated on Tuesday (Sep 16), the newest in a string of world temperature information.
The common temperature settled at 24.2°C, smashing the earlier file of 24.1°C set in 2022, and the very best determine since information started in 1961, AEMET spokesman Ruben del Campo informed 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 pattern towards a lot hotter summers,” the spokesman stated.
Spain endured a file 16-day heatwave in August which fuelled wildfires that killed 4 individuals, and which the Carlos III Well being Institute estimates precipitated greater than 1,100 deaths – principally individuals older than 65.
Northwestern Spain, the place the worst wildfires erupted, skilled “a really dry, and even extraordinarily dry, summer time”, and this “mixture of excessive temperatures and really low rainfall” created beneficial circumstances for fires, Del Campo stated.
Of the 90 days of summer time, 33 had been marked by heatwaves, that means “multiple in each three days this summer time, we skilled excessive temperatures”, he stated.
Heatwaves had been “extra sporadic” within the earlier century however have now turn out to be common occasions, Del Campo added, noting the final summer time 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 conserving information, in keeping with their climate companies.
