Study: deaths from extreme heat grew by 74% 0:49
(CNN) --
Parts of Spain are experiencing a record heat wave during the month of May, with temperatures reaching 40.3 degrees Celsius in one city, according to the country's national weather agency AEMET.
On Sunday afternoon, the weather agency had warnings of high temperatures in 17 Spanish regions.
According to Reuters, people in the south of the country "waved fans, filled themselves with water and dove into fountains" on Saturday as a heat wave swept across the region.
On Friday, the city of Jaén in Andalusia, in southern Spain, recorded a temperature of 40.3 degrees Celsius.
A city thermometer on the Puente del Cachorro marks 42 degrees in Seville
In a tweet, the Spanish meteorological agency said that, in the case of Jaén, temperatures were up to 16 degrees Celsius above average for the time of year.
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In the rest of the peninsula, temperatures were at least 7 degrees Celsius higher than the normal average, the agency added.
An AEMET spokesman, Ruben del Campo, said: "This episode is very unusual for mid-May and could be one of the most intense in the last 20 years."
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The early hours of Saturday morning were "extraordinarily hot" for the time of year in much of central and southern Spain, according to AEMET.
In many places, early morning temperatures did not drop below 25 degrees Celsius, something that, according to the weather agency, "is virtually unheard of on the peninsula in May."
Aerial view of the Jaén Cathedral in Jaén, Spain, where temperatures have reached 40.3 degrees Celsius.
AEMET also said that the city of Segovia experienced its first "tropical night" in May, defined as a night in which temperatures do not drop below 20 degrees Celsius.
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A heat wave in the northeastern US will break dozens of records this weekend
Several countries around the world have suffered major heat waves recently, including India and Pakistan, and parts of the United States, such as the drought-stricken Plains and Texas, where temperatures reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit this month.
AndalusiaSpainHeat wave
