Spain records 61 heatwave days in 2026 as summer temperatures reach 24.5 °C

Summer temperature records and heatwave duration

Spain registered its warmest summer since official records began in 1961, logging an average temperature of 24.5 degrees Celsius across June, July, and August. According to data from the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), this average was 0.3 degrees Celsius higher than the previous peak set in 2025 and 2.4 degrees Celsius above the 1991–2020 reference baseline. Peninsular Spain and the Balearic Islands experienced 61 days under heatwave conditions throughout the three-month period, encompassing roughly two out of every three days of the season. This total surpassed the previous peak of 41 heatwave days documented during the summer of 2022. All ten of Spain's warmest summers have occurred in the twenty-first century, with seven of the eight highest average temperatures recorded since 2015.

Breakdown of the four seasonal heat episodes

The 61 extreme days were distributed across four consecutive heatwaves that affected vast areas of the mainland and islands. The opening episode occurred from 20 to 27 June, lasting eight days and affecting 42 provinces. A second heatwave ran from 2 to 24 July across 37 provinces, presenting a temperature anomaly of 3.9 degrees Celsius. A third episode spanned 24 days from 28 July to 20 August across 32 provinces, becoming the second-longest heatwave recorded in Spain since at least 1975 after the 26-day event of July 2015. Conditions extended into meteorological autumn when a fourth heatwave affected 16 provinces between 2 and 7 September, during which the municipality of El Granado in Huelva reached 45.7 degrees Celsius, while the Mediterranean Sea reached a surface temperature of 28.54 degrees Celsius.

Health consequences and urban vulnerability

The prolonged high temperatures contributed to substantial health impacts in urban centers across Spain and Europe. A study published in The Lancet Public Health by the Lancet Countdown initiative, led by researcher José Chen from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), reported that heat-related mortality in southern European cities increased by 161% in 2015–2024 compared to the 1991–2000 reference period. In Spain, annual heat-attributable deaths rose from 82.8 per million residents in the 1990s to 176.3 per million in the recent decade. Jaén recorded the highest urban mortality rate at 371 deaths per million inhabitants, followed by Linares at 324 and Talavera de la Reina at 312. In Castellón de la Plana, heat-related deaths grew by 553%, reaching 168.1 per million residents, while Spain's Daily Mortality Monitoring System (MoMo) registered 5,434 heat-attributable deaths nationwide between May and September 2026.

Policy proposals and scientific support measures

During an appearance before the Congress of Deputies, Third Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition Sara Aagesen called for a cross-party national pact to address climate impacts.

We must improve our resilience against climate change. There is no time for climate denialism, nor for political delayism. I come to defend that we must reach a pact, a commitment between political forces.

Aagesen detailed government initiatives including a 3.5 million euro funding line allocated to public universities and research centers to investigate climate disinformation. The Ministry for Ecological Transition established an internal verification support unit to assist fact-checking journalists with timely data access. In collaboration with the Ministry of Science, the government also created an office dedicated to supporting researchers and providing protection against harassment from climate denial groups.