Record temperatures for a month of April have been recorded on both the Spanish mainland (38.8 degrees) and Portugal (36.9 degrees). This is evident from data from the meteorological institutes of both countries on Friday.
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On the Spanish mainland, 38.8 degrees Celsius was measured in the southern city of Cordoba on Thursday, according to preliminary data from the Spanish meteorological agency (Aemet). That is an absolute temperature record for the month of April. The previous record for mainland Spain (38.6 degrees) dates back to 2011 and was recorded in the eastern city of Elche.
According to Aemet, the provisional figure has yet to be confirmed in the coming days.
It is not an absolute record for the whole of Spain, as that was measured in 2013 in the Canary Islands, with a scorching 40.2 degrees.
Spain, like neighboring Portugal, is experiencing an unusually early heat wave this week, caused by a mass of warm, dry air from North Africa. Temperatures are expected to drop from this weekend.
Also very hot in Portugal
In neighboring Portugal, the mercury hit 36.9 degrees on Thursday, the highest temperature for April in at least 78 years, according to data from the National Meteorological Institute. Near the Mora weather station in the center of the country and five other central locations, the previous record of 36 degrees was broken. This was measured on April 20, 1945 in northeastern Pinhao, according to the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA).
According to scientists, the repeated heat waves are an unambiguous consequence of global warming and these heat waves will multiply, lengthen and intensify.
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