Spain swelters in hottest pre-summer heatwave for 20 years

AFP / Cristina Quicler

Fan-sellers were doing good business in the southern city of Seville on Saturday as Spain sizzled in the hottest pre-summer heatwave for at least 20 years.

Carriage drivers dampened down horses who take tourists around the historic sights of Seville such as the Real Alcazar Palace and Plaza de Espana.

Temperatures reached 40 °C (104 Fahrenheit) degrees in the Guadalquivir valley in Seville and the nearby city of Cordoba on Saturday, the national meteorological office AEMET said.

Temperatures could rise to 42 °C (108 Fahrenheit) degrees in the Guadiana valley in Extremadura and other parts of southern Spain later on Saturday, forecasters said.

On Sunday, the heatwave could intensify as temperatures could soar to 43 °C (110 Fahrenheit) degrees in parts of southern Spain.

A cloud of hot air from North Africa has sent temperatures soaring, AEMET forecasters said, and the suffocating heatwave could last in most of Spain until June 15, six days before summer officially starts on June 21.

Forecasters predicted high winds and storms in some parts of Spain.

More from International

  • Strong earthquake strikes central Peru

    An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 hit central Peru on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said, although authorities reported no immediate casualties or damage.

  • Overloaded boat capsizes in Nigeria, at least 40 bodies recovered

    At least 40 bodies, mostly of children, have been recovered after an overloaded boat capsized in Nigeria's northwest Sokoto state, local officials and residents said on Thursday.

  • Bangladesh elects ruling party veteran Alamgir as president

    Bangladeshi lawmakers elected veteran Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the country's new president on Thursday, making the longtime opposition figure the head of state after his party came to power in a major political transition.

  • Russian strikes kill 16 in Ukraine's Kyiv

    Russian strikes have killed 16 people and injured more than 40 in Kyiv and the surrounding region on Thursday as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a failure by Ukraine's allies to replenish its stock of air defence missiles was costing lives.

  • Prince Harry and Meghan to move back to Britain

    Prince Harry and his wife Meghan plan to move back to Britain this month, six years after they stepped down from their royal duties and relocated to the US, a source close to the couple said.