Spain Recorded Its Hottest Ever Temperature Hitting 38.8C For April

(CTN News) – According to the country’s meteorological department, Spain’s April temperature on Thursday reached 38.8C, which is the highest it has ever been.

In southern Spain’s Cordoba airport, the record number was attained shortly after 15:00 local time (14:00 BST).

A Blistering Heatwave Hit Spain With Temperatures 10-15C Warmer Than Expected For April

A slow-moving weather system and a mass of extremely hot air from Africa have propelled it.

“This isn’t right. According to Cayetano Torres, spokesman for Spain’s meteorological agency, temperatures are entirely out of control this year.

The intensity of the heat recently witnessed throughout southern Spain startled experts.

“Spain is experiencing an extremely intense heat wave with temperatures that have never been recorded in April.

Records are being broken by up to 5C in some places, which has only happened a few times at weather stations worldwide, according to climatologist Maximiliano Herrera, who also administers the Extreme Temperatures twitter account.

Schools are permitted to change their schedules to avoid the hottest parts of the day. In order to avoid lengthy platform delays, the Madrid metro has trains running more often than usual.

Additionally, public swimming pools are anticipated to open one month earlier than usual

Particular attention was drawn to the effects on the underprivileged by Cristina Linares, a scientist at the Carlos III Health Institute.

“When it comes to determining why there are more fatalities brought on by excessive temperatures, poverty is the primary cause. The element that has the strongest correlation between the effect of heat on daily deaths is income.

Globally, heatwaves are also happening more frequently as a result of climate change’s worsening of already high temperatures.

While some areas of Britain are currently cooler than average, many areas of Spain are experiencing the opposite.

The unusually high temperatures there this week, according to meteorologists, are the result of a number of things.

Europe is becoming hotter as a result of the hot weather in North Africa

The Iberian peninsula’s high pressure system and bright sky are allowing extra sunlight to reach the already parched earth, which can’t dissipate the heat.

In several areas of Spain, there has been a persistent drought on top of the high temperatures. The Guadalquivir basin’s reservoirs are just 25% full.

The national weather office has issued a warning that a wide portion of the nation could be at risk due to this combination, which is heightening the possibility of early forest fires. In 2022, Spain experienced the most land fires of any nation in Europe.

Experts in the field agree that climate change is most definitely a factor in this heatwave.

“We know that 2022 was the second warmest year on record for Europe, and it was the warmest summer on record,” Dr. Samantha Burgess of the Copernicus climate change agency told BBC News.

“Europe is warming twice as quickly as the rest of the world, and we know that a higher pace of warming increases the likelihood of extreme events.

And among those extraordinary occurrences are heat waves.

Agriculture is another issue to think about in addition to the effect on young and old

The persistent drought is causing problems for many farmers, and the government in Madrid has asked the EU for financial assistance.

Due to the dry circumstances, several landowners claim they won’t plant crops, which may have an impact on Europe’s food supply.

This heatwave in Spain is not an exceptional incident; temperatures in the first few months of this year have broken records all around the world.

On the very first day of this year, eight nations in central and eastern Europe established new records for the warmest January temperatures.

Extreme heat has recently been experienced in many Asian nations. On April 15, the temperature in Laos rose to 42.7°C while it reached 45.4°C in northwest Thailand.

The temperature in Dhaka, rose above 40 degrees Celsius on what was reportedly the warmest day in 58 years

The likelihood of an El Nio event also has the potential to affect weather globally during the upcoming months.

As a result, the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru will become hotter. If it does, 2024 may end up being the warmest year on record, with an increase in storms, fires, and floods.

“It seems we are living in a world of a new normal here,” said Dr. Fahad Saeed of the research group Climate Analytics.

“These people have been adjusting to these kinds of extreme temperatures for thousands of years in places like Asia, but it is now beyond their capacity to adapt.”

“That’s why we see rising heat-related death rates every year in this region of the world.”