Weather agency debunks 'summers in Spain are always hot' claim

Whenever Spain's Aemet weather agency or a news website warns of an upcoming heatwave or record temperatures in Spain, there’s invariably a barrage of replies online saying something to the effect of 'It's always been hot in summer'.

This is of course true, very obvious, and in many cases quite a disingenuous claim.

READ ALSO: Heatwave to smother Spain as June likely to be hottest on record

These sorts of remarks are repeated over and over again as evidence against climate change (along with claims like ‘fake news’ and ‘clickbait’) and although it is of course true that temperatures are higher during summer in Spain, and that there have always been abnormal periods and heatwaves over the years, Spain’s weather agency has now shown they have never consistently reached current levels, at least not since records began.

This has been confirmed by Spain’s state meteorological agency Aemet in a social media post in which it debunks the claims with data.

Around a quarter of the replies and messages directed at Aemet on social media are insulting, humiliating and threatening, according to figures from the Social Inclusion journal, which may explain why the state body has taken to the internet to make its point.

Posting on X, Aemet stated that:

‘It's always been hot in summer.’

Yes, but there is no precedent for a June as hot as this one. Just look at the anomaly graph.

And it's not an isolated case: between 2022 and 2024 there were 7 records of hot months. The last record for coldest month was in 2005.

With a graph showing average temperatures in Spain and the variations that have occurred in recent months, Aemet data shows that in most cases when weather anomalies occur they are towards higher or rising temperatures.

Take June, for example, which is already promising to be a record month. Aemet provided further data from June that adds to the list of records, especially for incidents of extreme weather and variation, such as the fact that on June 23rd, for example, Almería broke both its highest maximum and minimum temperatures record for the month, 40.9C and 27.1C, respectively.

According to Spain’s System of Daily Mortality Monitoring (MoMo), from June 1st to 21st 114 people have died in Spain due to heat-related causes. The year with the highest rate of mortality due to heat-related causes was 2022, with 339.

As we approach July, the situation doesn't look likely to change, warns Aemet. The average temperature should be between 23C and 24C (an average of maximum and minimum temperatures), but the forecast is for it to be around 30C.