61 days of heatwave: Spain records its hottest summer since 1961
Aemet's assessment: a nationwide average of 24.5 °C, 61 days of heatwave conditions and the hottest summer since records began in 1961.
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61 days of heatwave conditions – more than ever before: Spain's national weather agency Aemet published its summer 2026 assessment on Wednesday. The 61 days are spread across four heatwaves on the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, clearly surpassing the previous record of 41 days set in 2022. A further five-day heatwave was recorded in the Canary Islands.
The summer of 2026 was also the hottest since records began. What stands out most is the exceptionally long duration of the extreme heat: midsummer conditions were not confined to June, July and August. A spell of very high temperatures had already occurred in May, and another heatwave followed in September.
The nationwide average temperature was 24.5 °C. That is 0.3 °C above the previous record summer of 2025 and 2.4 °C above the average for the 1991 to 2020 reference period.
All ten of the warmest summers in the entire record have occurred in the 21st century. Seven of the eight hottest have been registered since 2015.
That clearly exceeds the previous 41 days from 2022 and the 36 days from 2025. In other words: on roughly two out of every three days of the summer, Spain saw exceptionally high temperatures.
Another heatwave followed in September, by which time meteorological autumn had already begun. According to preliminary data it lasted from 2 to 7 September, six days in total, and affected 16 provinces. It also produced the September record of 45.7 °C at El Granado confirmed by Aemet.
It was only the fifth heatwave ever recorded in September. The earlier ones came in 1987, 1988, 2006 and 2016.
The summer of 2026 was also the hottest since records began. What stands out most is the exceptionally long duration of the extreme heat: midsummer conditions were not confined to June, July and August. A spell of very high temperatures had already occurred in May, and another heatwave followed in September.
The hottest summer since records began
According to Aemet, the summer of 2026 – June, July and August – was the hottest since Spain's temperature records began in 1961.The nationwide average temperature was 24.5 °C. That is 0.3 °C above the previous record summer of 2025 and 2.4 °C above the average for the 1991 to 2020 reference period.
All ten of the warmest summers in the entire record have occurred in the 21st century. Seven of the eight hottest have been registered since 2015.
Record: 61 days of heatwave conditions
The most striking feature of the summer of 2026 was undoubtedly the extraordinary persistence of the heat. On the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, 61 days with heatwave conditions were counted – an all-time record.That clearly exceeds the previous 41 days from 2022 and the 36 days from 2025. In other words: on roughly two out of every three days of the summer, Spain saw exceptionally high temperatures.
Midsummer as early as May – and still in September
It is also remarkable how far midsummer conditions extended beyond the meteorological summer. As early as late May, temperatures more typical of July were measured across large parts of Spain.Another heatwave followed in September, by which time meteorological autumn had already begun. According to preliminary data it lasted from 2 to 7 September, six days in total, and affected 16 provinces. It also produced the September record of 45.7 °C at El Granado confirmed by Aemet.
It was only the fifth heatwave ever recorded in September. The earlier ones came in 1987, 1988, 2006 and 2016.
