Spain set for new heatwave from Friday

Spain is heading for a new heatwave which will last for at least nine days and extend to the rest of Europe, the national weather office said Wednesday.

The heatwave, the second of the summer, will affect almost all of Spain from Friday, a spokeswoman for the weather office said.

Temperatures will be especially high on Monday, reaching 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) in some regions, due to the arrival of hot winds blowing from Africa.

“Beginning on Saturday this heatwave will be felt in France, Germany, Italy, southern Sweden, Poland and other nations in central Europe,” the spokeswoman said.

The heatwave will last at least nine days in Spain, the spokeswoman said. She did not offer a prediction for how long it could last in other nations.

Spain’s first heatwave of the summer, which began on Thursday, caused temperatures to soar to 44 degrees Celsius in the countryside of the southern province of Cordoba.

A low pressure system which brought cooler winds from the Atlantic caused temperatures to drop on Tuesday.

The highest temperature recorded in the country on Wednesday was in the Ebro Valley in the northeast where temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius.

The last major hot spell in Europe in 2003 caused an estimated 70,000 deaths, mainly among elderly people.