The Canary Islands begin their own heat wave and the risk of fires grows throughout the country

The arrival of cool northwesterly winds cooled northern Spain a bit on Thursday, but the rest of the country continued to scorch and we will continue to do so until at least the weekend, when the third heat wave we suffered this summer is expected to end. although temperatures will continue to be very high in almost the entire country.

As Rubén del Campo, spokesman for Aemet, explained, these same northwesterly winds arrive overheated in the Mediterranean area, the entire Levant and southern Andalusia, further increasing temperatures, especially in points of the Valencian Community and in the Region of Murcia.. Thus, the Valencia airport reached 46.8 degrees on Thursday afternoon, which is 3.4ºC more than the previous record, registered in 1986, in a historical series that dates back to 1966, according to Aemet on the network. social X (formerly Twitter).

Records were expected for Wednesday, considered the worst day of this heat wave, and according to Aemet, the one in the city of Soria was exceeded, which reached a maximum temperature of 38.9 ºC, an absolute record in a series that has 80 years old, beating the 38.7 registered in July of last year.

The early morning from Wednesday to Thursday was another night not to sleep. Seventy-five stations in the Aemet network recorded torrid nights, that is, they did not drop below 25 degrees. In towns in the East and South of the peninsula at 8 in the morning the thermometer had not dropped below 27 degrees. But there were places in the Canary Islands where they had to endure 30 degrees at night, such as San Bartolomé de Tirajana, on the island of Gran Canaria.

The Canary Islands will be from Friday and at least until Sunday one of the territories that suffers the most from the suffocating heat, since today their own heat wave begins, which will exacerbate the situation that they already began to experience yesterday, with the entry of air very hot from the Sahara and dust in suspension that will give rise to haze. According to Del Campo, the maximum will reach 37 -39 degrees in many parts of the Archipelago and will exceed 40 in the south of Gran Canaria, where the next few nights will also be very hot, as they will not drop below 30 degrees and it could be that they will reach 32 degrees night.

Today the maximum temperatures will drop in the Mediterranean area and will rise in large areas of the rest of the peninsula. It will be very hot, reaching more than 42 degrees in large areas of Andalusia and with a good chance of reaching 44 in the Guadalquivir Valley and in the province of Huelva.

For the weekend, says the Aemet spokesperson, “a temperature drop is expected on the peninsula and although the necessary thresholds may no longer be exceeded to be able to speak of a heat wave in peninsular territory, temperatures will continue to be high, especially the Saturday where there can be more than 40 degrees in the Guadalquivir valley, and 35 degrees in large areas of the interior, values in many cases between 5 and 10 degrees above normal”. On Sunday, few areas will exceed 40 degrees but 35.

According to Del Campo, the risk of fires will be very high or extreme these days in almost the entire country, also when temperatures drop, because we have been without rain for many days.

The Aemet spokesman also advanced the forecast for the bridge on Tuesday, August 15 for the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin: “We will continue with the heat of midsummer, a maximum temperature of 35 degrees in large areas of the east, center and south of the peninsula and in the Balearic Islands, about 32 degrees in the Northern Plateau and between 30 and 32 degrees on the Mediterranean coast, with a feeling of muggy there due to high humidity”. It will be cooler in the Cantabrian Sea, with 25 to 30 degrees. And for now, the forecasts suggest that as of Wednesday there will continue to be high temperatures and there will be hardly any rain.