A new national heat record for June was set in Spain at the weekend, with temperatures reaching 46 degrees Celsius in the town of El Granado near the Portuguese border, as a broader early-summer heatwave grips parts of Portugal, France, and Greece.

The Spanish state weather agency AEMET confirmed Saturday’s record-high temperature. Spain’s previous June high of 45.2 degrees was set in Seville in 1965.

Dozens of towns and cities across Spain reported maximum temperatures above 40 degrees while neighbouring Portugal also sweltered. In the country’s southern Algarve tourist region, highs reached around 40 degrees.

On Spain’s holiday island of Mallorca, temperatures climbed to nearly 35 degrees.

Overnight conditions offered little relief.

In southern Spain, night-time lows remained above 30 degrees – a level of sustained heat that experts say can pose serious health risks.

Locals are accustomed to coping with extreme temperatures by limiting outdoor activity during peak heat, wearing light clothing, and hydrating frequently.

However, the combination of scorching heat and intense sun is rapidly drying out soil and vegetation, sharply increasing the risk of wildfires.

Meteorologists warn that such heatwaves are becoming more frequent and arriving earlier in the season due to human-driven climate change.

According to AEMET, only two heatwaves were recorded in June between 1975 and 2000. Between 2000 and 2024, that number rose to nine. This year, temperatures approached August levels as early as late May.

France is also sweltering under the heatwave, which is expected to last through the middle of next week. On Monday, temperatures above 35 degrees are forecast across much of the country.

By Tuesday, Paris could see highs of 40 degrees, according to the national weather agency Météo France.

Wildfires have broken out in southern France amid the ongoing heat, possibly caused by a barbecue. A section of the A61 motorway was closed, and a campsite in Bizanet was evacuated, according to the local prefecture based in Carcassonne.

A total of seven fires were reported after a person was transporting a barbecue with still-smouldering embers in a trailer, local civil protection chief Christian Pouget told broadcaster BFMTV on Sunday.

In the small municipality of Bizanet alone, more than 150 firefighters battled the flames. Firefighting helicopters were also deployed, according to authorities. The fires affected 400 hectares of land.

Experts note that directly linking individual wildfires to climate change is challenging.

In Greece, strong winds brought an abrupt end to a three-day heatwave, with temperatures dropping from around 40 degrees to 30 degrees within hours, the national weather service reported.

Despite the cooldown, the combination of heat and wind has prompted Greece’s civil protection agency to declare the highest fire danger level for large swathes of the country.

Major wildfires have already broken out this European summer south of Athens and on the island of Chios.

(dpa/NAN)