Spain will live this week exceptional heat wave for this time of year with maximums of 40ºC planned in Andalusia, while the country suffers a prolonged drought catastrophic consequences for agriculture.
The country will experience in the next few days some values in the thermometer “typical of summer and exceptionally high for these dates”the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) warned in a statement.
This heat wave, linked to the “progressive entry of a very warm and dry air massof African origin, on the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands”, will reach its peak at the end of the week in the south of the country, the public body specified.
Extreme heat in Spain
According to Aemet, temperatures will exceed 30ºC on Tuesday and Wednesday in much of the south of the country, with possible maximums of 35ºC in Andalusia, as well as in the regions of Valencia and Murcia, on the Mediterranean coast.
Then they will continue to rise, reaching “in general 35°C” on Thursday and Friday in the southern half of the country and in the Ebro valley (northeast), and up to “40°C” is expected in the Guadalquivir valley, in Andalusia. .
According to Aemet, this week’s temperatures will be on average between 6º and 10ºC above the norm for the season.
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But in some places, they will even be between “15 and 20 degrees” above normal values by the end of April, agency spokesman Rubén del Campo said on Twitter.
Health on alert
The heat wave is part of a unusually hot and dry spring in the countryespecially in Catalonia, which is facing its worst drought in decadeswhere authorities have already issued orders to reduce water use.
Due to the lack of precipitation, the reservoirs – which store rainwater for use in the driest months – are at only a quarter of their capacity in the region, according to local authorities. And more farmers had to give up planting in the last weeks.
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“We are in a difficult moment from the hydrological point of view”, especially since the groundwater tables and reservoirs in Spain have been depleted in recent years due to a chronic lack of rainfall, as acknowledged last week by the Minister of Agriculture, Luis flat.
According to data from the European Copernicus service published on Thursday, Europe, where temperatures rise twice the global average, experienced its hottest summer since records began in 1950.
Source: Ambito
