The average temperature in mainland Spain between June 1 and Aug. 31 reached 26C (79F), 2.5C (4.5F) higher than the 1991-2020 average, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE reported Monday, citing an analysis of data from Spain’s meteorological agency, Anadolu Agency reported.
Temperatures were above normal on 95% of days, with 33 days classified as exceptionally hot and another 32 as very hot.
June was Spain's second-hottest on record, with an average temperature of 25C (77F), 3.5C (6.3F) above normal. July followed as the hottest on record, averaging 27.3C (81F), 2.9C (5F) above normal, while August was the second-hottest on record, with an average of 26.2C (79F).
Spain experienced four heat waves, along with 49 consecutive days of above-normal temperatures between June 6 and July 24.
The extreme heat also took a significant human toll.
Spain's Daily Mortality Monitoring System (MoMo), operated by the Carlos III Health Institute, attributed 5,111 deaths in June, July and August to high temperatures – the highest summer figure since its records began and more than double the 2015-2025 average.
Only around 21% of those deaths occurred during officially designated heat waves, highlighting the health risks posed by prolonged high temperatures even outside the most extreme periods.
August recorded the highest toll, with 2,192 heat-attributable deaths, followed by 2,025 in July and 937 in June.
The summer also broke hundreds of temperature records across Spain.
A total of 342 maximum temperature records and 470 records for the highest minimum temperatures were broken over the three months. New all-time local temperature highs were recorded on 71 occasions, many of them in northern Spain, which is generally cooler than the south.
One of the summer's highest temperatures was 45.1C (113F), recorded in Andujar in southern Spain, on June 22.
Nights offered little relief. Temperatures remained above 20C (68F) somewhere in Spain every night during the summer. One of the hottest nights was recorded at Almeria Airport in southern Spain, when the nighttime temperature did not fall below 30.8C (87F).
Although the summer months are over, September has also started with temperatures rising. Spain’s meteorological agency warns of “full summer temperatures” this week, with widespread heat warnings as temperatures are expected to reach between 37C (99F) and 40C (104F) in the northeast, center and southern mainland.