The hot air currents blowing from North Africa have raised the temperatures to values that we are used to seeing in Spain usually only in June.
In Spain, the temperatures have been exceptionally high this week and the gauge has reached almost 40 degrees in some places.
On Friday, it was the hottest in the city of Córdoba in southern Spain, where the mercury reached 37 degrees.
It’s not just one week that is hot for the time of year. According to the Spanish Meteorological Institute AEMET, April is likely to become the hottest month in the history of measurements.
Similar temperatures are usually measured in Spain only in June.
Temperatures are expected to drop on Saturday, when a cooler and wetter air mass arrives in the Iberian Peninsula from the west.
However, in the interior and eastern parts of the country, temperatures will remain high even during the weekend.
A water shortage threatens
In Spain, the heat and prolonged drought have increased the risk of forest fires.
This year, the first large wildfire was seen exceptionally early, when an area of more than 100 hectares burned at the end of March in the province of Castelló in the eastern parts of the country.
In Spain, the amount of rain in March remained at around 36% of the historical average.
Monthly rainfall has been below the average continuously for three years and the country’s water reserves are at half capacity, Reuters news agency reports.
In some areas, there is a shortage of water. In Catalonia, the last quarter is left in the water reserves and restrictions have already been placed on the use of water.
Source: Reuters