Spain swelters under unseasonal heatwave
Madrid, Jun 13 (EFE).- Parts of Spain were braced for temperatures of up to 43C (109.4F) Monday as the country sweltered under an intense and unseasonal heatwave.
The Spanish meteorological agency Aemet has issued weather warnings for extreme heat in swathes of central, northeastern and, particularly, southern regions of the country that are to remain in place for most of the week.
The agency previously warned that the heatwave was forecast to be the hottest to hit the country in mid-June in the last 20 years.
The thermometer is forecast to hit 43C in the Guadiana and Guadalquivir river valleys in southern and southwestern Spain on Tuesday, while the cities of Badajoz, in Extremadura, and Córdoba and Seville, in Andalusia, were braced for temperatures of 42C.
The capital Madrid was set to be blanketed by temperatures of up to 39C on Monday afternoon.
The heatwave, which is expected to peak Wednesday but could drag on for several days, is being fed by a combination of high atmospheric pressure, intense sun and hot air from North Africa.
Nightfall offers little reprieve in some of Spain’s most arid regions, such as Extremadura, where the town of Navalvillar de Pela registered a temperature of 35.6C at the turn of midnight Monday.
The heatwave has brought extra challenges to firefighters who have been tackling a wildfire near Pujerra, in southern Spain’s Málaga province, since Wednesday.
The blaze, which ripped through 3,500 hectares of woodland, was thought to have been brought under control on Friday but strong winds rekindled it in places on Sunday. EFE
esl/jt/ks
