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The heatwave that began this Monday in Spain ratcheted up to its most intense on Wednesday in most parts of Spain, but the Region of Murcia will feel the full brunt of the heatwave this Thursday August 10.

 

Spain’s State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has activated the red alert for temperatures that could exceed 44ºC in the central part of the Region, a weather warning that could be extended to the Guadalentín Valley, Lorca, Águilas, the Northwest and the Altiplano, which are all on orange alert.

 

In Cartagena and Mazarrón no alert has yet been activated, although Aemet has not ruled out issuing a yellow alert if the 36ºC-threshold is reached.

 

Red level warnings from Aemet indicate that there is an extreme risk from unusual meteorological phenomena, of exceptional intensity and with a very high level of danger for the general populace.

 

These highs of up to 44ºC are, in the eyes of scientists, very high temperatures, unusual even for this time of year – so far, these have been the hottest August days in the last 73 years.

 

It doesn’t get much better at night, either, since the minimum temperatures, in general, will not drop below around 25ºC (which is the maximum it reaches it many parts of northern Europe on a hot day!) making a good night’s sleep something of a distant dream.

 

The rise in the temperature of the Mediterranean Sea also contributes to make it hotter on land, creating a feedback loop. As the heatwaves come earlier each year and become longer and more intense, they heat up the water which then bleeds back into the air at night, making the night-times warmer too.

 

According to official data, last summer the Mar Menor also set a temperature record: it exceeded 31ºC, in the islets it exceeded 32ºC and in the very shallow areas it reached 35ºC.

 

Nonetheless, this third heatwave of the year in Spain will begin to ease off starting from Friday August 11 and over the course of the weekend temperatures will drop further with the arrival of colder air at high altitude.

 

No more hot weather alerts have so far been issued for the weekend, and going into next week it should settle back into its regular pattern of temperatures in the mid-30s during the day and the low- to -mid-20s at night.

 

 

 

 

 

Images: Aemet