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Mainland Spain experienced its hottest September since records began in 1961, with exceptional temperatures making the month feel more like summer, the country’s national weather agency AEMET said on Friday.
The average temperature reached 22.5 degrees Celsius, 3.4 degrees above the 1991-2020 reference-period average, AEMET said in a statement. It was the first time September’s average temperature exceeded the average summer temperature of 22.1 degrees recorded during the same reference period.
The record followed Spain’s hottest summer on record and added to a series of temperature records across Europe this year, as successive heatwaves swept the continent. Scientists have linked the intensity of such extreme heat to human-driven climate change.
Spain also matched its all-time September temperature record when the southwestern municipality of El Granado recorded 45.7 degrees Celsius on September 3.
In September, AEMET briefly issued its highest-level red heat alert for small areas of the southern region of Andalusia. It was the first time such warnings had been issued during September since the alert system was introduced in 2007.
The month was also exceptionally dry. Mainland Spain received rainfall equivalent to just 36 per cent of the normal September amount for the 1991-2020 reference period.
Extreme heat has contributed to tens of thousands of excess deaths across Europe, while drought and falling river levels have disrupted daily life and economic activity.
The latest figures underscore growing concerns over the impact of climate change, as Europe faces increasingly severe heatwaves and other weather extremes.