Laurence Dollimore
SPAIN is expected to record its highest official temperature reading ever in Jaen today.
As a heatwave continues to consume the central and southern part of the country, the Andalucian town is forecast to hit 46.9C.
Six provinces, most of them in Andalucia, have been placed on red alert, the highest alert possible for maximum temperatures; Jaen, Cordoba, Granada, Sevilla, Caceres and Badajoz.
Another 21 provinces, meanwhile, are on orange or yellow alert.
The weather has been described as ‘genuinely extreme’ by the AEMET state meteorology service.
The village has never seen such a high temperature before, with the previous recorded maximum being 46.6ºC, in August 2003.
According to a study from AEMET, which covers all of the heatwaves in the country between 1976 and June 2017, temperatures above 46ºC have rarely been seen in Spain.
On five occasions in total, temperatures exceeding 45ºC have been registered, including at Córdoba airport in the summer of 2015, and in 2012 when 45.9ºC was reached at Seville airport. The maximum temperature ever recorded in Spain was not actually during a heatwave: on July 23, 1995 the heat at Córdoba airport hit 46.6ºC.
“This heatwave is worse than expected,” said Delia Gutiérrez, spokesperson for AEMET.
who added that the intensity of the head is ‘higher’ than thought.
To have six red alerts in one day is unheard of.
“The red alert is reached when temperatures are around 10% higher than the maximums seen in that location,” the agency explained.
The thermometers are due to register 46.7ºC in Córdoba, 45.6ºC in Écija (Seville), 44.8ºC in Badajoz capital, and 44.7ºC in Mérida.
