Spain faces first major heatwave of the year, highs up to 45°C from Monday

Summer has not officially begun yet, but the heat has already been in place over much of Spain for weeks. That situation will only intensify in the coming days: just as the new season begins, this Sunday 21 June, the country will enter a heatwave that experts describe as intense and which could push temperatures above 40°C.

According to Copernicus, the heat will start to build this weekend in the centre and west of the continent before spreading to the rest, with Spain among the hardest-hit areas. France will also be in the firing line: both countries could see 40°C-45°C in their hottest regions.

The driving force behind this episode will be a ridge of warm, dry air rising up from Africa. By Saturday the temperature rise will already be noticeable, and on Sunday highs will reach 38°C in Galicia and along the Cantabrian coast, while in the Ebro, Tagus, Guadiana and Guadalquivir river basins temperatures could hit 40°C.

Monday and Tuesday will be, according to Meteored, the toughest days: night-time lows will not fall below 25°C across much of the country and daytime highs could climb even further. In the north of the country, the thermal anomaly, the deviation from what is usual at this time of year, will be around 10°C to 15°C, a figure that underlines how unusual this episode is for that area. From Tuesday 23 onwards, the heatwave will start to lose strength, although experts warn that the heat will linger for the rest of the week, albeit with less intensity.

Meteorologist José Antonio Maldonado was categorical on COPE in pointing out that this Saturday and Sunday's spike will not be the worst of the episode: 'We will not have reached the peak yet,' he warned on Herrera en COPE. According to his forecast, temperatures will shoot up in the first half of next week, with some areas potentially reaching 45°C. Maldonado spoke of 'extreme heat' and warned of storms which, in some places, could be severe.