Walter Finch
SPAIN’S latest heatwave has become the most intense ever recorded in the country, according to the national weather agency AEMET.
The heatwave, which lasted from August 8 to 17, was a full 4.6C hotter than the average, beating the previous record of 4.5C set in July 2022.
AEMET reported it lasted for sixteen consecutive days, making it the longest and hottest mid-August stretch since records began. It also produced the warmest set of ten consecutive days in Spain since at least 1950.
The data, and the long-term trends, deal a direct blow to the sceptics and deniers who claim make claims such as ‘it’s just the same heat as always’ or ‘Spain is hot in the summer’.
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The agency said that ‘the persistence of extreme heat increases its adversity’, noting that the health of vulnerable people was affected and the risk of wildfires rose sharply. During this period, more than 200 local temperature records were broken, mainly in the north and west.
According to provisional data, the first twenty days of August 2025 were the warmest such period since at least 1961.
Although temperatures have dropped after August 18 to below the seasonal average, AEMET predicts the month will still rank among the four hottest Augusts on record.
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The agency also highlighted that of the 20 warmest periods ever recorded in Spain, five correspond to this single heatwave and the other fifteen have occurred since 2022.
Since 1975, 77 heatwaves have been registered across the Peninsula and Balearic Islands, with six of the most intense – those above +4C anomalies – all occurring since 2019.
AEMET’s long-term chart shows a clear upward trend in intensity, with more frequent and more extreme events in recent years.
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In response to critics who claim climate change does not exist or accuse the agency of political bias, AEMET underlined that these figures are ‘measured and official’.
The agency also reported that the average temperature in Spain has increased by 1.69C between 1961 and 2024, with four of the five hottest Augusts on record all taking place in the last four years – along with the notorious summer of 2003.
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