Whole swathes of Spain and Portugal will experience an Iberian heatwave this week, with the mercury set to soar to 41C in Seville and 37C in Lisbon, according to the Met Office.
The hottest days are forecast to be May 29, 30, 31 and June 1, with the heat easing off slightly at the start of next week. Even for Spain and Portugal, such lofty temperatures are atypical for the time of year, with temperatures usually averaging 28C in the south of Spain in May.
The weather has caused the Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), the Spanish equivalent of The Met Office, to issue high temperature warnings for Seville, Cordoba, Lleida, Tarragona and Valle del Guadalquivir.
North-western Spain and the north of Portugal is expected to be the areas where temperatures are the coolest.
AEMET has also warned of storms on Friday, May 30, across the country. This comes months after more than 224 people died in floods in Valencia and surrounding areas. AEMET has put the sweltering, stormy weather down to a “powerful anticyclone” coming from the Azores which will reach the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands.
The anticyclone will carry steamy air from Africa over Andalusia, the Alboran Sea and the central peninsula.
Spiralling temperatures will cause concern in Spain, as in recent years the country has been devastated by wildfires. In 2017, Galicia in northern Spain was savaged by a natural blaze, while in 2022 Spain was the worst-hit country in the EU’s second-worst wildfire season on record.
While in 2024, hundreds of firefighters were deployed to tackle wildfires near Valencia, where hundreds of residents in a nearby village had to evacuated.
