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Drought near Malaga in February 2022
Photo:
JORGE GUERRERO / AFP
In 2022, Spain experienced the warmest year on record.
This was announced by the Spanish weather service Aemet on the online service Twitter and stated that at almost 15.5 degrees in 2022, the average temperature had exceeded the 15-degree mark for the first time since records began in 1916.
In Spain there were repeated heat waves from May to October, with temperatures rising to over 40 degrees in large parts of the country.
Except for March and April, the months of 2022 were "warmer than normal, particularly May, July, and October," Aemet said in December.
According to the Spanish weather service, last year was also one of the driest.
Only in 2005 and 2017 was there less precipitation.
Barcelona and much of Spain's northeastern region of Catalonia have imposed water restrictions due to the lack of rain.
300,000 hectares of forest fell victim to the flames
The exceptionally dry and hot year also favored forest fires.
According to the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis), more than 300,000 hectares of land in Spain were devastated - more than in more than two decades.
According to an estimate by a public health institute, the high temperatures last summer also caused the deaths of around 4,750 people.
The estimate is based on the number of increased deaths recorded during this period.
And the new year also began in Spain with unusually high temperatures.
At the airport in the city of Bilbao in northern Spain, 25.1 degrees were measured on New Year's Day - and thus roughly the average temperature for the city in July.
It was the city's highest temperature ever recorded in January.
atb/AFP
