Heat Waves Make Residents In Spain Change Daily Activity Hours

Madrid, Spain/ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH/Deniz Demirci

MADRID - Hot air temperatures in large parts of Spain sparked a health warning and forced many people to get up early to avoid the hottest hours of the day.

Temperatures in most parts of the country will reach 38 degrees Celsius on Thursday, July 18 and Andalusia, Extreme, Madrid, and Aragon areas can reach 40 degrees Celsius, weather service AEMET said.

"I got out early, before leaving for work, to avoid the heat wave," Raul Gomez, who was jogging at the Casa de Campo park in Madrid at 7 a.m., told Reuters.

"After work and at night, it is impossible to get out," said the 43-year-old man.

In line with authorities across Southern Europe, the Spanish Ministry of Health called on the public to drink water, protect themselves from the sun, and pay special attention to young people and the elderly.

The first major heat wave this summer will spread to cover Spain's largest area on Friday, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius across much of the region and reaching 43 degrees Celsius in parts of Andalusia in the south, AEMET said.

Temperatures in some areas along the Mediterranean coast could reach 44 degrees Celsius on Saturday, although thermometers will fall in most other areas, weather forecasters said.

In downtown Madrid, shipping worker Emanuel Lopez said it was more difficult to work in days with hot temperatures.

"Physical work in hot weather is more demanding and we are becoming more tired," said a 19-year-old Venezuelan teenager who has lived in Madrid for three years.

The weather agency has issued orange warnings in parts of the country, effectively banning outdoor work in the afternoon in the region under government regulations imposed last year.

Spanish national television station TVE broadcasts wine pickers starting work at 04.00, ending before 11.00 p.m. in the southern Cordoba region.

"There is a high risk of forest fires in most countries on Fridays and Saturdays," AEMET said.

Most of Europe is hit by an increasingly destructive forest fire season, which experts say is due to rising temperatures triggered by climate change.

The hot weather is likely to continue until the middle of next week and will be accompanied by smog coming from Africa, which has often exacerbated health problems during the summer.