SPAIN’S national weather agency has hailed a record-smashing heatwave in the UK as hundreds of climate records are shattered across Europe.
State forecasters Agencia Estatal de Meteorologia (AEMET) took the unusual step of highlighting the British weather after temperatures in London outstripped parts of the Mediterranean.
The British Met Office provisionally recorded a blistering 35.1C at Kew Gardens, obliterating the previous UK May record by more than two full degrees.
AEMET officials described the northern European heat as ‘exceptional’ for the end of May, warning that a massive plume of hot air is currently locked over the continent.
READ MORE: Spain’s Costa Blanca set for early heatwave with temperatures soaring to July levels
The extraordinary meteorological event has seen centuries of weather data rewritten from the Atlantic coast to the heart of central Europe.
In France, weather service Meteo-France confirmed that monthly temperature records fell in more than 300 separate locations during a single afternoon.
Major French cities including Nantes and Brest saw their previous monthly benchmarks smashed by up to 4C.
READ MORE: Spain’s Pedro Sanchez rules out snap elections and backs former PM Zapatero amid investigation
Further south, Portugal registered the highest absolute temperature of the continental European heatwave so far.
Tourists and residents in the inland town of Mora baked in 40.3C heat on Wednesday afternoon as the Iberian peninsula bore the brunt of the arriving African air mass.
Even usually cooler climates have succumbed to the system, with Ireland’s national forecaster Met Eireann revealing that its all-time May record was broken by over a degree after temperatures hit 31C.
In central Europe, Hungarian forecasters confirmed a new historic monthly high of 32.2C in the capital city of Budapest.
The multi-national records come as Spain itself prepares for a punishing weekend of unseasonal weather.
Forecasters warn that the domestic heat is more typical of the traditional mid-summer peak than the final weeks of spring.
READ MORE: Spain emerges as Europe’s jet fuel lifeline as Middle East conflict sends aviation costs soaring
Temperatures are expected to peak at 37C in parts of the south and northeast on Thursday, accompanied by powerful 60kph winds through the Strait of Gibraltar.
Climate experts at the Asociación Meteorológica del Sureste (AMETSE) warned that the persistence of the heat dome has already caused Mediterranean sea surface temperatures to spike up to 5C above the seasonal average.
The heat is expected to begin dipping in northern Spain over the weekend, though forecasters say a full return to normal values will not arrive until next week.
Click here to read more Weather News from The Olive Press.
