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WEATHER

Wednesday is likely to be one of the hottest days in Spain in 73 years

Temperatures are expected to hit 44C in Spain on Wednesday August 9th, as 40 of the country's 50 provinces are on alert and the average national temperature is so high it will "probably be one of the hottest August days since 1950" according to the national weather agency.

Published: 9 August 2023 16:09 CEST
Wednesday is likely to be one of the hottest days in Spain in 73 years
A woman covers her head with a fan during a heatwave in Cordoba, southern Spain on August 8, 2023. The Iberian Peninsula is bearing the brunt of climate change in Europe, witnessing increasingly intense heatwaves, droughts and wildfires. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP)

With huge forest fires raging across southern Portugal for the fifth successive day, Spain’s weather service warned that the average temperature across the country could hit a 73-year record.

“This will probably be one of the hottest five August days in 73 years,” said AEMET, the state meteorological agency, with almost the whole country under orange or red weather alerts.

A total of 21 provincial capitals will reach at least 40 degrees Centigrade: Ciudad Real and Córdoba (44); Granada, Jaén and Toledo (43); Albacete (42); Bilbao, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Logroño, Madrid, Teruel, Valladolid, Vitoria and Zaragoza (41), and Badajoz, Burgos, Palencia, Pamplona, ​​Seville and Zamora (40).

Forty of Spain’s 50 provinces have at least a yellow alert for hot weather, 29 for temperatures between 37C and 43C.

In places such as Álava, Burgos, Córdoba, Cuenca, Granada, Guipúzcoa, Jaén, Madrid and Vizcaya the mercury could hit 44C. 

Only A Coruña, Alicante, the Balearic Islands, Barcelona, ​​Castellón, Girona, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Pontevedra, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Tarragona, as well as the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, will escape the sweltering heat.

Winds and extreme heat are also driving fires that have devastated 15,000 hectares of trees in neighbouring Portugal over the past few days.

The biggest blazes are in the southern Odemira region, where more than 1,500 people have been evacuated with the fires reaching the Algarve, a hugely popular tourist destination.

But firefighters tackling the wildfires said they were bringing them under control Wednesday, with a fall in temperatures and greater humidity at the coast helping stem the spread as hot air moves east.

Experts say the recurring heatwaves, which have been getting longer and more intense, are a consequence of climate change.

The Iberian Peninsula is bearing the brunt of climate change in Europe, with droughts and wildfires becoming more and more common.

Spanish firefighters were using up to a dozen water bombers to slow the spread of the flames around Valencia de Alcantara in Extremadura close to the border with Portugal.

“We evacuated our clients to a hotel in Alcantara,” said Joaquín Dieguez, the owner of a holiday cottage. “But we are really worried because we have an enormous forest here with century-old oak trees. It’s awful,” he added.

First estimations suggest that 350 hectares of trees have gone up in smoke. The blaze comes after 573 hectares were destroyed in wildfires in Portbou in Catalonia in the northeast, with 450 acres of trees lost by another fire near Bonares in Andalusia in the south.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

The parts of Málaga most affected by rising sea levels

Spanish climate experts have warned of a significant rise in sea level in several municipalities within the province of Málaga, including the Vélez-Málaga and Guadalmar areas.

Published: 6 June 2024 10:26 CEST
The parts of Málaga most affected by rising sea levels

According to a recent report in the Official State Bulletin (BOE), sea level rises will be expected across the Andalusian province, but the areas around Vélez-Málaga and Guadalmar will be subject to severe increases by 2070. 

This comes after an April report by NASA found that sea levels have risen by five centimetres in Málaga province in the last three years and will rise by 50 centimetres by 2090.

The local government has already initiated several actions to try and alleviate the situation in Málaga and mitigate intense flooding.

According to expert predictions and government studies carried out between 1957 and 2022, coastal erosion has already begun and in the future, the coastline will begin where urbanisations, beach bars and restaurants currently stand.

This includes the hotel Parador del Campo de Golf de Málaga, as well as a wastewater pumping station.

Projected sea level increase in Málaga province in the next decades. Graph: NASA

The areas previously declared as flood-prone have also been updated and modified according to new data available.

READ ALSO: The Spanish cities that will be most affected by rising sea levels

The municipality of Vélez-Málaga, capital of the Axarquía region of quaint white villages, will be one of the worst-affected places, particularly around Torre del Mar and Caleta de Vélez.

Experts say that this problem has been going on for decades and will only get worse. Since 1957, the municipality has lost a total of 222,107 square metres of sand, due to the increase in storms derived from climate change.

From 2020, with a peak in 2022, the area also experienced an extreme drought, meaning that contributions of river sediments on the beaches are almost non-existent. If this trend continues, and if conditions do not change, it’s estimated that in 10 and 20 years, the stretch of coast on the left bank of the Vélez River will experience the greatest regression, with a maximum of 40 metres at 10 years and 70 metres at 20 years.

READ ALSO: Why are Barcelona’s beaches disappearing?

In Guadalmar, the coastline is expected to advance between 80 and 226 metres, due to the increase in sea level by 31 centimetres, according to a study carried out by Tragsatec, a public engineering group. As a consequence, researchers say that the waves are changing and more storms are eroding the beaches.

A significant portion of this coastline has already been lost to the sea this century, but since 2016 the regression of the coast has been even greater. In total, 223,495 square metres of beach have been lost in almost 70 years.

It is estimated that, if conditions do not change, in 10 to 20 years, the stretch of coast between San Julián beach and the golf course will see the greatest regression.

READ ALSO – MAP: The parts of Spain that are most and least affected by global warming

In order to deal with this issue, the Coastal Regulation has declared that no new title of occupation in the maritime-terrestrial public domain may be granted on land deemed to be at serious risk.

Existing constructions will be maintained as long as the sea does not reach them or there is a risk that it will. On land declared to be in a situation of serious regression, the government may carry out protection, conservation or restoration. For this, it may impose a special tax on people who benefit from these works.

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