The summer of 2026 becomes the hottest recorded in Spain since 1961

The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has confirmed this Wednesday with figures what we Spaniards have felt during the last three months: the summer of 2026 has been the hottest since records began to be taken systematically in 1961.

No less than 61 days have met heat wave conditions, more than any other year. In other words: two out of every three days of the summer recorded extremely high temperatures, according to the meteorological summer balance (which covers the months of June, July and August, and which is the one used to carry out climate analyses).

This summer has far exceeded, therefore, that of 2022, with 41 days under a heat wave, and that of 2025, with 36 days of extreme temperatures.

As specified by Aemet, the average temperature during the summer was 24.5 °C, 0.3 °C more than that of the summer of 2025, which until now held the record. This record represents 2.4 ºC more than the average temperature of the reference period 1991-2020.

Beyond the record registration, one of the most worrying aspects of the report is the trend it points out. And the 10 warmest summers in Aemet's historical series have taken place this century, and seven of the eight hottest have taken place since 2015.

Four heat waves in summer

The 61 days of extreme heat have been divided into four heat waves. The first began on June 20 and ended on the 27th of that month, so it lasted eight days. It affected 42 provinces, becoming the third heat wave with the largest affected area in the series, only surpassed by the episodes of July 2022 and July 2024.

The second heat wave was the most intense, with temperature anomalies of almost four degrees. It took place between July 2 and 24, 2026 and covered 37 provinces. The third episode of extreme heat took place between July 28 and August 20, with 32 provinces affected. "The heat waves of July and August, lasting 23 and 24 days respectively, became the third and second longest since at least 1975, only surpassed by the heat wave of July 2015, which lasted 26 days," Aemet said in a statement.

Another aspect is that the conditions that in Spain we used to consider midsummer have occurred outside of those three summer months. At the end of May, July temperatures were recorded in many areas of the country. And so far in September (considered meteorological autumn by Aemet although astronomical autumn does not begin until September 21), another heat wave has been recorded between September 2 and 7. This fifth heat wave of the year has affected 16 provinces.

Thus, between Friday and Sunday, several records were broken in different parts of Spain, especially in the north and east of the peninsula, with maximum temperatures of more than 40 ºC and minimum temperatures of more than 25 ºC. For example, the Logroño Airport station exceeded 40ºC for the first time in the autumn and registered 40.5ºC, 1.5ºC above its previous record (39ºC, which it reached on September 7, 1988). That of Girona measured 37.7ºC on Friday, 0.7ºC more than on September 2, 1983.

For its part, that of Lleida reached 39.9ºC, which is 2.5ºC more than its previous record (37.2ºC, which dated back to September 5, 2016).

Among the torrid nights (those in which the temperature does not drop below 25ºC) are those of the Rota Naval Base (25.3ºC), Huelva Ronda Este (25.7ºC), Colmenar Viejo (25.8ºC), Morón de la Frontera (25.9ºC), Sevilla Airport (25.7ºC) and Zaragoza Airport (25.1ºC).