New weather maps suggest Spain could be blasted with blistering temperatures with fears the mercury could hit a deadly 50C. Forecast data from WXCharts shows the Iberian Peninsula turning white hot on Friday July 24 from noon onwards, with the southern province of Andalusia in the firing line for the highest temperatures.
Popular tourist cities such as Malaga, Seville and Grenada are likely to see 40C and above in a matter of days. Spain has already been rocked by devastating wildfires which tore through Spain’s Almería province on Thursday killing 13 people, including seven British nationals.
The deadly summer conditions look likely to continue and Spanish climate experts fear the country could be cooked by record-breaking temperatures. The highest-ever reading for Spain is 47.6C, which was logged on August 14, 2021, in La Rambla, Barcelona.
Rubén del Campo, from Spain’s national weather body Agencia Estatal de Meteorología AEMET, told the newspaper El Pais: “Given that the frequency and intensity of heatwaves are increasing, it is not out of the question that in the coming years or decades, during an intense heat peak, a temperature of 50 degrees could occur.”
The world record for the highest temperature ever logged is 56.7C which was measured on July 10, 1913, in Death Valley, California.
In Britain the Met Office said 2026 is the first year to record 35C on six separate days.
This broke the previous records set in 1976 and 2020 when five days were recorded with temperatures over 35C.
In Spain, four days after a fire ravaged a remote expat community in the south of the country, judicial authorities have identified 12 of the 13 fatalities using biological samples.
Most of the deceased, all of whom were adults, were foreign nationals, including seven British citizens, three Belgians and a woman.
Ten people remain unaccounted for.