Spain heatwave linked to 212 deaths as temperatures soar above 45C

Spain’s official mortality monitor put the heat-related death toll at 212 between Sunday and Wednesday as the country endured a blistering start to summer, with Andujar in southern Spain reaching 45.1C and mainland temperatures setting a June daily average record. More than 100 of AEMET’s 828 weather stations measured 40C or higher on Monday, while parts of Cantabria and the Basque Country were also placed under the highest alerts.

The danger did not end after sunset. Unusually warm nights, including tropical nights, kept temperatures elevated, and parts of the Almeria coast stayed above 30C for a third consecutive night. Spain’s health ministry said its Heat Plan had been active since May 16, after May brought 101 heat-related deaths, the highest May total since records began in 2015.

Health Minister Mónica García said the heat was arriving earlier, before people had time to acclimatize. She also pointed to the scale of the toll Spain has already absorbed in recent years, saying the country recorded more than 27,500 heat-attributable deaths between 2015 and 2025, including 3,832 in 2025 alone, the second-worst year in the series. The mortality system behind the latest estimate, the Daily Mortality Monitoring System known as MoMo, compares daily death counts with expected levels from historical records and incorporates weather data from AEMET.

The Spanish figures landed as much of Europe remained locked in the same hot pattern. Temperatures across the continent were expected to stay sharply above normal through Thursday, driven by an Omega block that pushed readings as much as 18C above average. Britain logged its highest June temperature on record, France set new June heat records, and Italy placed 16 cities under its highest alert.

For Spain, the latest numbers underscored how heat has become a mass-casualty public-health emergency, not just a weather event. The country’s official systems tracked the deaths after the fact, but the scale of the toll, the early-season timing and the overnight heat showed how quickly familiar protections can be overwhelmed when extreme temperatures arrive earlier and last longer.