AEMET delays the end of the heatwave: it will continue until 18 August

What seemed like a short episode has become one of the longest and most stifling heatwaves Spain can remember. The Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET) has updated its forecasts and warns that exceptionally high temperatures will offer no respite until at least Monday 18 August. The persistence of a warm, dry air mass over much of the Peninsula and the Canary Islands, together with the strong sunshine typical of summer, is sending temperatures far above what is usual for this time of year. According to AEMET, there is no precedent for a period from 1 to 20 August as hot as that of this 2025. The figures speak for themselves: three automatic stations exceeded 45 oC, 55 recorded 42 oC or more, and in Lomo Pedro Alfonso (Gran Canaria) the minimum did not fall below 31.7 oC. In Castelló-Almassora, the night of 11 August was the warmest recorded since data began in 1911. Madrid is not spared either. Last 8 August, Arganda del Rey reached 41.8 oC, the second-highest temperature in the country that day, exceeded only by Candeleda (Ávila). Added to this extreme heat is a very high or extreme risk of fires across much of the territory. Fires have already devastated thousands of hectares in different provinces and caused human and animal tragedies. In Tres Cantos (Madrid), a 50-year-old man died while trying to save several horses from the flames, an episode that reflects the harshness of this summer. Everything indicates that, at least in the coming days, Spain will continue to experience days of stifling heat and maximum alert.