Record-Breaking May Heatwave Engulfs Europe: Spain Roasts as Barcelona Registers Hottest Night and Temperatures Soar Above 38°C
A historic heatwave is gripping Europe, with Spain recording unprecedented May temperatures and Barcelona enduring its hottest night of the year as minimums stayed above 25°C — values typically seen only in August.
Spain swelters under extreme May heat
Dozens of Spanish municipalities approached 40°C on Thursday 28 May, with the town of Vinebre in Tarragona reaching 38.5°C and Andújar in Jaén hitting 37.9°C. The national weather agency Aemet confirmed at least a dozen stations recorded 37°C or more, including Tortosa, Talavera de la Reina, Badajoz, Lleida and Montoro. Temperatures are running 5–10°C above normal for late May, matching what would be expected during the hottest weeks of August — two and a half months earlier than usual. Several stations have already broken their all‑time May records, and meteorologists expect more to fall as the episode continues.
Barcelona’s record torrid night
The heat did not relent after sunset. In the early hours of Friday 29 May, Barcelona experienced its warmest night of the year and one of the hottest May nights on record. At the central Raval observatory, temperatures stayed above 25°C around midnight, dipped to a low of 24.3°C at 4 a.m., and climbed back past 25°C within an hour. The Fabra observatory, perched 400 m above the city, recorded 26.2°C at bedtime, a low of 25.2°C, and rose above 26°C again by 6 a.m. — values that constitute an “equatorial” or “torrid” night, a phenomenon normally reserved for August. Humidity over 30% pushed the heat index close to 30°C, creating what locals describe as an “infernal” night that made sleep almost impossible.
- Temperature above 25°C at Raval observatory, midnight
- Low of 24.3°C recorded at Raval, 4 a.m.
- Mercury rises back above 25°C at Raval
- 26.2°C at Fabra observatory around bedtime
- Fabra climbs above 26°C again by 6 a.m., after a low of 25.2°C overnight
A continent‑wide heatwave
The early‑summer scorcher extends well beyond Spain. Since 20 May, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal and several Balkan nations have all broken heat records for this time of year. Daytime highs have crossed 36°C in Spanish cities that rarely see such numbers before midsummer, including northern hubs like Oviedo and San Sebastián. Forecasters warn the heat will persist for several more days, with the mercury likely to rise further in some areas.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell described the current wave as yet another sign of accelerating planetary warming. The last 11 years have been the hottest on record globally, with 2024, 2023 and 2025 ranking as the three warmest, and early data for 2026 points to another year of extreme temperatures.A brutal reminder of the growing impacts of the climate crisis.
Health and economic toll
Heat is a silent killer. A study in Nature Medicine covering about 30 European countries found that excess heat caused more than 172,000 deaths between 2022 and 2024. In Spain alone, the Carlos III Health Institute attributes over 6,000 excess deaths last year to high temperatures. Globally, an average of 546,000 people died annually from heat‑related causes between 2012 and 2021, according to the ninth Lancet Countdown report. The economic risks are equally stark: a study by the British insurers’ institute warns that if warming surpasses 2°C, the climate emergency could wipe out up to 20% of global GDP before 2050.
