Weather agency: July was Spain's hottest month on record

MADRID (AP) — Spain has never had a month as hot as July in more than six decades, the national weather office AEMET said Monday.

For the first time since weather records started in 1961, July registered an average temperature of 25.6 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit). The recorded average for any month of July is 22.9 C (73 F).

The southern Andalusian town of Morón de la Frontera posted the highest temperature of the month with 46 C (115 F) on July 24. The northwest Galicia region posted a record temperature of 44 C (111 F) in the city of Ourense.

The extreme heat and lack of rain have caused many wildfires and worsened a drought in many areas. The European Forest Fire Information System says 2022 has been the worst year so far in terms of scorched territory and the number of fires for Spain. The agency says 240,000 hectares (585,00 acres) have been razed in more than 370 fires in Spain.

Neighbouring Portugal’s weather service IPMA also said July was the hottest since national records began in 1931. The average temperature was 25.1 degrees Celsius (77.3 degrees Fahrenheit), it said. That was almost 3 degrees C higher than the expected July average.

To the north in France, last month was the driest July since measurements began in 1959.