The exceptionally early heat wave in Spain will reach its peak today and tomorrow. This is reported by the Spanish State Meteorological Agency Aemet. Record temperatures are expected for the month of April in the south of the country.
“The mass of very warm and dry air from North Africa has raised temperatures since the beginning of the week to summer-worthy levels. The mercury is exceptionally high for this period,” the agency said. Today temperatures could rise to 34 degrees in the south of the country and even to 37 degrees in the valley of the Guadalquivir in Andalusia. In weather stations in Andalusia and the provinces of Seville and Huelva, the mercury already exceeded 37 degrees yesterday.
The heat wave comes in an abnormally warm and dry spring: a catastrophe for agriculture, the mainstay of the Spanish economy. According to the Coordinating Committee of Farmers’ and Livestock Farmers’ Organizations (COAG), the main farmers’ union, 60 percent of Spain’s farmland is currently “suffocated” by the lack of rainfall.
Heat plan advanced
In that light, the Spanish government asked the European Commission to activate the ‘crisis reserve’ of the common agricultural policy. The government will also give farmers a fiscal boost. Finally, the Ministry of Health proposed to the regions that the national heat plan should take effect on May 15 (instead of June 1).
Spain must cope with the consequences of climate change. According to the United Nations, almost three quarters of Spain’s territory is affected by desertification. With multiple heat waves from May onwards, last year was the hottest year on record in Spain, Aemet says.
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