Spain has recorded its hottest December day on record, prompting tourists to flock to beaches, ski resorts to postpone their seasons and one region even to find ships in the water to combat a major drought.
While much of Northern Europe shivered from winter conditions, temperatures rose to 29.9 degrees Celsius in holiday destination Malaga on Tuesday.
Local weather data showed Valencia, meanwhile, had highs of 27°C (80.6F), while Alicante reached a slightly milder 24°C (75.2F).
The heatwave on Spain's southern coast comes after a summer with four national heatwaves, amid the hottest year on record.
“It is one of the warmest air masses ever to have flown over Spain at this point in December,” said Ruben del Campo, spokesman for the national weather agency AEMET.
Couples at Malagueta Beach in Malaga were seen in the company of their partners in the heat
Tourists swapped ski slopes for beaches during the bizarre heat wave
Tourists enjoy the weather at Malagueta beach during an unusually warm winter day in Malaga, Spain
The Met Office reported that top holiday destination Malaga reached temperatures of 29.9C (85.8F) yesterday
He added that the unusual heat, coupled with forecasts of scant rainfall until the end of February, heralded a “not very good” season for winter sports that rely on abundant snow, which once melted is also a crucial water source for spring and winter. summer. months.
His colleague in Malaga, Jesus Riesco, said of the temperature in the holiday hotspot: “This has easily broken the previous record, and this is unusual.”
The heat, which follows several days of warm air currents across the Iberian Peninsula, surpassed the previous December record set in 2010, when a temperature of 29.4 degrees Celsius was recorded in Grenada, also in the southern region of Andalusia.
Such levels would be “much less likely” without “the climate changes observed globally and in Spain”, AEMET said.
This graph shows the difference between recorded maximum and minimum temperatures in Malaga in December 2023 (solid lines), compared to average temperatures based on historical data between 1981 and 2010 (dashed lines)
The exceptional warmth is likely to end after Wednesday, forecasters said
Despite being used to hot summer months, Spaniards have seen a growing number of intense heat waves in other seasons in recent years, causing panic among many scientists.
According to AEMET, the frequency of heat waves in the country has tripled in the past decade and the summer season has increased by ten days per decade since the 1980s.
The exceptional warmth is likely to end after Wednesday, when AEMET predicts cooler air from higher latitudes will bring temperatures towards more normal ranges for December.
The drought in Spain is getting so bad that one of the country's largest regions is considering bringing much-needed water on board ships.
Catalonia says it will have to take drastic measures and plans to declare a state of emergency in January.
Plans are being made to ship between 20,000 and 30,000 hectoliters of water to the Barcelona metropolitan area, in an attempt to solve the problems associated with the ongoing drought.
Tourists at Malagueta Beach in Malaga enjoyed Spain's likely last heat wave of 2023
An elderly couple was seen relaxing on Malagueta Beach in Malaga on Tuesday
The scorching temperatures enjoyed by these beachgoers on Malaga's Malvarrosa beach come as world leaders agreed for the first time to move away from fossil fuels at the COP28 climate talks.
“Let's not assume that the water comes from Tarragona or some other place like Marseille,” says climate action advisor David Mascort.
“It will depend on where water and boats are available.”
The January emergency decree will also hit tourism, as there will be a temporary suspension of new hotel projects.
The Catalan government says that after 37 months of below-average rainfall, the situation of the reserves is critical.
“Additional measures are being developed in addition to those included in the Special Drought Plan, with the aim of guaranteeing water for citizens,” a spokesperson confirmed.
Some of the measures that will be implemented include a ban on commercial projects that 'require significant use of water', including agriculture and tourism, as well as restrictions on the amount of water that can be used in public swimming pools.
In addition, the Catalan government is considering whether to fine tourists for drinking too much water.
Several Catalan municipalities have already received fines from the Catalan Water Agency for exceeding water consumption in September.
The town of Caldes de Malavella has been fined 24,181 euros for exceeding the maximum consumption of 230 liters per inhabitant per day, as 296.26 liters were consumed.
Caldes de Malavella is a town of 8,200 inhabitants with two spas, several hotels, seven urbanizations and more than 100 kilometers of pipes.
A British tourist was seen reading a book on the unusually warm beach of Malagueta, Malaga
Several people were seen playing games on El Palo beach in Malaga
Some were seen taking naps on Malagueta beach in the scorching heat
The municipality of Begur, on the Costa Brava, has also been fined 54,000 euros for having too much water.
At the popular ski resort of Navacerrada outside Madrid, visitors complained about the lack of snow.
“It's an eerie feeling because this should really be covered in snow or frozen, but instead it's green and lush for this time of year,” said Tania, a 32-year-old marine biologist who only gave her first name, to Reuters. .
Vicente Solsona, a 66-year-old retired university professor from the eastern province of Castellon, said Navacerrada should have at least one meter of snow on such a date.
“We are quietly destroying everything,” he added. “The problem is there's no going back.”
The scorching temperatures come as world leaders agreed for the first time to move away from fossil fuels at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai, after a 'historic' climate change deal was approved by almost 200 countries this morning.
The agreement marks the first time in nearly three decades of annual U.N. climate summits that the world has agreed to language explicitly limiting future use of fossil fuels.
The non-binding 'global stocktake' agreement has been negotiated at the UAE conference over the past two weeks, with delegates staying up until 5am this morning to get the wording right.
One man was spotted watching birds fly by on El Palo beach in Malaga
People in Valencia enjoyed temperatures of 25C (77F)
A couple enjoys El Palo beach in Malaga during the heat wave
In 21 pages and nearly 200 paragraphs, the agreement outlines a path away from the use of fossil fuels to “achieve net zero by 2050.”
The signatories pledged to “contribute… to the transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly and equitable manner.”
It calls for a tripling of renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030, accelerating efforts to reduce coal use and accelerating technologies such as carbon capture and storage that can clean up hard-to-carbon industries.
Furthermore, it is recognized that global emissions are likely to peak before 2025, with developing countries likely to peak slightly later.
The deal also 'reiterates' that developed countries are supporting more vulnerable states facing the potential impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels.