MADRID, Sept 16 (Reuters) – This summer was Spain’s hottest since records began in 1961, as the country experienced more than a month of heatwaves caused by climate change that helped stoke its worst season of wildfires in three decades.
The summer of 2025 was 2.1 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1991-2020 average and surpassed the previous warmest summer recorded in 2022 by 0.1 degrees, 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,” del Campo said. “One in every three days this summer we have been under a heatwave.”
Tourists cover themselves with umbrellas while visiting Plaza Mayor square during a heatwave in Madrid, Spain, August 4, 2025. REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab
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 45C in the south of the country and was the most intense on record, according to AEMET.
Countries across 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 (nearly 4,000 square miles) 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 northwestern region of Galicia, which suffered some of the worst blazes, temperatures were 3C warmer than normal, AEMET said.
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