Spain’s 2025 summer was hottest on record, says state weather agency
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Nine of the 10 hottest summers in Spain have occurred in the 21st century.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MADRID – This summer was Spain’s hottest since records began in 1961, as the country experienced more than a month of heatwaves
The summer of 2025 was 2.1 deg C warmer than the 1991-2020 average and surpassed the previous warmest summer recorded in 2022 by 0.1 deg C, state weather agency Aemet said.
Nine of the 10 hottest summers in Spain have occurred in the 21st century, with more heat to come, Aemet spokesperson Ruben del Campo said in an interview with Reuters.
“These summers of 2022 and 2025 are a trailer – or spoiler – for what could happen in the middle of the century,” Mr del Campo said. “One in every three days this summer we have been under a heatwave.”
Mr del Campo said Spain would need to adapt to hotter summers while continuing to contribute to the global effort to curb climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
Spain experienced three heatwaves spanning 36 days during the summer. A 16-day heatwave in August saw temperatures exceed 45 deg C in the south of the country and was the most intense on record, according to Aemet.
Countries around the world are experiencing record-breaking heat in recent years as global warming accelerates.
The summer of 2024 was the Northern Hemisphere’s warmest, while summer 2025 was Britain’s hottest since records began in 1884.
Intense heat helped fan wildfires that burned through a record 1.03 million hectares across the European Union, according to data by the EU’s European Forest Fire Information System, analysed by Reuters.
In the inland part of Spain’s north-western region of Galicia, which suffered some of the worst blazes
