Walter Finch
SPAIN baked under an extraordinary blast of heat on Sunday as six locations smashed through the 45C mark.
The national weather agency AEMET placed much of the country on red or orange alert as temperatures soared across Andalucía and beyond.
The highest reading came at Jerez de la Frontera airport in Cadiz, where the mercury hit a staggering 45.8C.
Close behind was El Granado in Huelva with 45.4C, while Montoro in Cordoba and Tomares in Sevilla both registered 45.3C.
La Rambla, also in Córdoba, and Morón de la Frontera in Sevilla, were not far behind with 45.2C.
The blistering conditions prompted AEMET to issue extraordinary red warnings for several inland provinces, stretching from Extremadura to Andalucía, while much of the rest of the peninsula was under orange alert.
Even coastal areas and the Balearics were not spared, with yellow warnings in place for high temperatures combined with summer storms.
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Spain has endured repeated punishing heatwaves in recent summers, but Sunday’s figures underline how extreme conditions have become.
The highs were only a fraction below Spain’s all-time record of 47.6C set in La Rambla, Córdoba, in August 2021—showing that once-exceptional extremes are now brushing dangerously close to normal summer weather.
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