Spain says heat wave caused more than a thousand deaths in June, twice as many as in 2025

Heat wave in Europe
At least 1,028 deaths were attributed to the heat in Spain in June, a month that was marked by a heat wave that hit much of Europe, according to data published this Wednesday (1st) by the Carlos III Health Institute, based in Madrid.
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The number represents more than double the number in the same month of 2025 - 407 deaths attributed to the heat - which had until then been the hottest June since the start of the statistical series, according to the Spanish meteorological agency Aemet.
Mortality estimates are based on a system called "MoMo" (Mortality Monitoring), which compiles the number of deaths in Spain daily and calculates the difference between real mortality and that predicted from the record of historical series.
Surface temperatures exceed 50 °C in France and northern Spain during wave of heat; image is from June 23, 2026.
Data from Copernicus Sentinel (2026), processed by ESA
Aemet reported that the first half of 2026 was "the hottest for Spain as a whole since records began", with an average temperature 1.6ºC above normal.
"The first seven hottest half-years of the series (starting in 1961) occurred in the last 10 years", he stated the agency.
In Portugal, the neighboring country, Lisbon and Setúbal will be on red alert this Thursday (2) due to the forecast of high temperatures, the national meteorological agency announced this Wednesday.
The maximum alert level will be extended on Friday ( ) to Leiria and Coimbra, in the center of the country, where temperatures can reach 44°C, reported the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).

Source: G1