Spain faces first major heatwave of the year with highs up to 45°C from Monday

Published on

19/06/2026 - 10:27 GMT+2

Summer has yet to begin officially, but much of Spain has already been sweltering for weeks. That situation will only intensify over the coming days: just as the new season begins, this Sunday 21 June, the country will enter a heatwave that experts describe as intense and that could push temperatures above 40°C.

According to Copernicus, the heat will start to bite this weekend in the centre and west of the continent before spreading to the rest, with Spain among the most affected territories. France will share centre stage: both countries could see temperatures close to 40°C to 45°C in their hottest areas.

The driver of this episode will be a ridge of warm, dry air moving up from Africa. Temperatures will already start to climb on Saturday, and on Sunday highs will reach 38°C in Galicia and along the Cantabrian coast, while in the Ebro, Tagus, Guadiana and Guadalquivir basins they could hit 40°C.

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The peak will arrive at the start of next week

Monday and Tuesday will be, according to Meteored, the toughest days: overnight lows will not fall below 25°C across much of the country and daytime highs could climb a little further. In the north of the country, the temperature anomaly (the difference compared with what is usual at this time of year) will be around 10°C to 15°C, a figure that shows just how unusual this episode is for that region. From Tuesday 23 onwards, the heatwave will start to lose strength, although experts warn that the heat will remain for the rest of the week, albeit with less intensity.

Meteorologist José Antonio Maldonado was blunt on 'COPE' when he pointed out that the rise in temperatures this Saturday and Sunday will not be the worst of the episode: 'We won't have reached the peak,' he warned on Herrera en COPE. According to his forecast, temperatures will soar in the first half of next week, with some areas potentially reaching 45°C. Maldonado spoke of 'extreme heat' and warned of storms that could be particularly severe in some places.