The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) has published its report Heat waves in Spain since 1975, which collects the temperature data produced in our country since that date. The main conclusion is that we have suffered no less than 80 heat waves in the last 40 years.
The Area of Climatology and Operational Applications of that institution has been in charge of carrying out the study, which contains suffocating parameters. Of that total of 80 heat waves in the Peninsula, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, they stand out above all those of the years 1991 and 2003. The summer of 1991 has been the one that has had the most days with heat waves, 23 total. But the summer of 2003 has gone down in history for recording the longest heat wave, which lasted no less than 16 days.
From July 30 to August 14 of that year, the inhabitants of the Peninsula, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla could hardly sleep or almost breathe. Also, it so happens that it was a very hot summer as a whole. So far it is the warmest since there are records, and the consequences were noted in the health of the Spanish: the National Epidemiology Center estimated the number of deaths attributable to heat at 6,500.
In addition, the brutal heatwave of 2003 affected almost all the countries of Europe, although of course it was the southern countries (Spain, Italy and Portugal) that registered the highest temperatures. In Alentejo, south of Portugal, 47.3 ° C was reached on August 1. That same day the maximum temperature records were broken in Denia (Alicante) –47.8 ° C–, Badajoz – 45 ° C– and Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz) –45.1 ° C–. Seville reached 45.2 ° C and Córdoba 46.2 ° C.
The minimums were also exceptionally high, since in many localities the thermometer at night did not drop below 24 ° C. The suffocating temperatures lasted throughout the first half of August throughout the peninsula, with very high records: Toledo and Orense, 42.0 ° C; Bilbao, 41.9 ° C; Murcia, 41.8 ° C; Ciudad Real, 41.6º C; Gerona, Granada and Jaén, 41.2 ° C; Zaragoza, 39 ° C; Burgos, 38.8 ° C; San Sebastián, 38.6 ° C; Pontevedra 38.2 ° C and Barcelona 37.3 ° C. 40 ° C were exceeded daily in a good part of our geography.
In France, the rise in thermometers and the duration of the heat wave were the strongest since 1950. According to Météo-France, two-thirds of meteorological stations registered temperatures above 35 ° C, and higher than 40 ° C. ° C in 15% of cities. Paris reached 39.8 ° C during the day, and the nighttime low was 25.5 ° C between 10 and 11 August. According to a study, 14,802 people died in France between August 1 and 15, which represents an excess mortality of 55% compared to normal rates.
Returning to Spain, the AEMET considers a heat wave to be an episode of at least three consecutive days in which, at least 10% of the stations register maximums above the 95% percentile of their series of maximum daily temperatures of the months of July and August of the period between 1971 and 2000. The three factors that determine its intensity are the temperatures reached, its duration and the affected territory. The recently published study selected 137 meteorological stations to collect the data – of which six belong to the Canary Islands – based on several criteria: they had to be in operation, have a sufficiently long series to be able to calculate their percentiles, and be uniformly distributed over the territory.
