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After a few days of slightly cooler conditions in the north of the country, the heat is making a forceful return across most of Spain from Thursday onwards. A warm air mass moving in combined with more settled conditions in the north will send temperatures climbing sharply, with some areas seeing increases of more than 5°C in just a couple of days.

 

Minimum temperatures rise in the west of the country and ease slightly in the east, with tropical nights, where it stays above 20°C overnight, expected mainly across Extremadura, the Guadalquivir Valley and the coasts of Andalucía and Murcia.

 

Maximum temperatures climb across most of the country, including Extremadura, Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, Aragón, the Valencian Community, Catalonia, Castilla y León, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, Navarre and La Rioja.

 

The southern plateau could see increases of more than 3°C, while parts of Galicia, Burgos, Palencia and the Cantabrian mountains could see rises of more than 5°C. Heat warnings return for the Guadiana river valley, where temperatures could top 38°C.

 

Both minimum and maximum temperatures continue to rise, particularly across the northern half of the country. Overnight temperatures increase in Galicia, Castilla y León, northern Extremadura and parts of Aragón and Andalucía.

 

Daytime highs climb further across the north, the Balearic Islands and parts of Extremadura, Andalucía and the Valencian Community, with coastal areas of northern Galicia, the Basque Country, La Rioja and Navarre potentially seeing rises of more than 6°C.

 

Temperatures could approach 40°C in parts of Badajoz and Córdoba, with heat warnings issued again for the Guadiana valley, the Guadalquivir valley and Jaén, where highs above 38°C are expected.

 

The upward trend continues in the northern third of the country and along the Mediterranean coast, with the Cantabrian coast and surrounding areas seeing the sharpest rises, again more than 6°C in places.

 

Across most of the country temperatures will sit more than 5°C above what's normal for this time of year, with parts of southern Gran Canaria also affected. In Galicia, the anomaly could exceed 10°C.

 

Temperatures may ease slightly in the western part of the country, but in the north, including the Basque Country, and along the eastern coast, they continue to rise, although more gently than over the previous days.

 

 

In Spain, a heatwave is only declared when very specific conditions are met. The State Meteorological Agency requires the episode to last at least three consecutive days, show a clearly abnormal level of heat compared to what's typical for the time of year, usually above the 95th percentile of recorded maximums, and affect a large area of the country rather than just isolated spots.

 

While the temperatures expected over the coming days will be unusually high for much of Spain, they're not expected to meet all of these criteria, so this episode does not currently qualify as a heatwave.