climate change
Extreme heat in Spain – “You can’t work like that”
Horses drink water at the Hot April Fair in Seville. photo
© Eduardo Briones/EUROPA PRESS/dpa
Spain is sweating and moaning at temperatures well above 35 degrees. April records are broken. Working people and farmers complain, experts point out climate change, doctors warn.
In the south of Spain people are used to the heat – but these days it’s too much even for the die-hard. “You can’t work like that,” complained the cook of a restaurant in front of the camera of the TV channel RTVE. “Even lots of water and a fan don’t help.” An extreme heat with temperatures well above 35 degrees locally has been making the Spaniards sweat and complain since the beginning of the week. According to the national weather service Aemet, the phenomenon caused by “a very warm and dry air mass” from Africa reached a peak on Thursday. According to the forecasts, it will remain hot on Friday.
Long lines in front of ice cream parlors
In the streets, men in suits wiped sweat from their foreheads. Long queues formed in front of ice cream parlors. People also sought refreshment in fountains and air-conditioned shopping malls. Such pictures could be seen almost everywhere in the country. It was unbearable in the Andalusian provinces of Seville and Córdoba, where temperatures on Thursday and Friday should climb to at least 38 degrees in the afternoon according to Aemet’s forecast. Aemet will not announce the official values until the following day.
According to the weather authority founded in 1887, April records were already broken this week before the heat peak in several Andalusian cities: For example in Córdoba, where the previous high of 34.0 degrees on Tuesday was clearly exceeded with 35.1 degrees. “The inferno is already here,” was the headline in the newspaper “Diario Córdoba”.
“It cannot be ruled out that 40 degrees will be measured somewhere in the Andalusian hinterland on Friday,” meteorologist Miguel Ángel Viñas was quoted as saying in the newspaper “La Vanguardia” on Thursday. According to Aemet, this mark has never been measured in mainland Spain in April.
Temperatures also rose on Mallorca, where, according to media reports, thousands of tourists, mainly from Germany and Great Britain, arrived before the long weekend. In the south of the island with the “Ballermann” it should remain comparatively bearable at a maximum of 30 degrees. On the other hand, according to Aemet, it should be pretty hot on Thursday and Friday with up to 34 degrees in Sa Pobla and Inca in the north of the island.
Increased risk of forest fires
Experts attribute the early extreme heat, which has been accompanied by a drought that has lasted for months, to man-made climate change. Aemet spokesman Rubén del Campo warned: “One thing is clear: climate change is increasing extreme weather events.” The hottest April days since 1950 are expected, he was quoted as saying in the digital newspaper “El Confidencial”.
Heat and drought increased the risk of wildfires, Aemet warned. 2022 was the most devastating forest fire year for Spain since the European forest fire information system EFFIS began to record it. According to measurements by the Copernicus earth observation system, an area of 306,000 hectares was destroyed in 493 major fires last year – that’s more than 3,000 square kilometers. For comparison: Saarland is almost 2570 square kilometers in size.
Not only the environment is threatened: Spanish medical associations warned this week, especially heart patients. The heart has to work harder when it’s hot than when it’s cold.
Farmers worry about harvests
Farmers are also worried: Jaume Pocoví from the Mallorcan farmers’ association “Unió de Pagesos” told the regional newspaper “Última Hora” that the carob and almond harvests are in danger because of the lack of rain. The situation for farmers on the mainland is worse.
Heat and drought called the central government and the regional authorities into action. In Madrid, where around 30 degrees have been measured for days, the regional government decided on Wednesday to open the public outdoor pools in mid-May, a month earlier than usual, to adjust school times, to check the situation in social and health centers more often and Let subways and buses run more frequently to avoid large crowds and long waiting times.
The Ministry of Health in Madrid proposed on Thursday to the country’s regions that the national heat protection action plan should come into force on May 15 this year and not on June 1, as RTVE reported. This plan was drawn up in 2003. Above all, it envisages information campaigns that educate people about health risks and protection against heat.