These last few days, when Mathilde leaves her home to go to work, she still puts on a “light” coat.
“But it’s more decoration than anything else,” she admits.
No need to cover up excessively when the thermometer shows, like Thursday, almost 30°C in the Valencia region, a heat record for the month of January.
This new wave, after peaks of 37°C in October and 29.9°C in December, maintains a climate of drought in the south of the country.
The weather is already considered “dry”, or even “very dry”, by the national weather forecasting body, enough to fear an alarming situation in the summer.
Read also Up to 30°C: scientists worried by the heat wave affecting Spain
“For ten days we have had abnormally high temperatures,” recognizes this French woman who has been an expatriate in Spain for seven years, and who settled down with her family in Paterna, a town bordering Valencia.
“This winter, things keep going yo-yo,” she notes.
We had days at 25-26°C and others with more seasonal temperatures, at 3°C when we went out in the morning, and it rose to 12-13°C during the day.”
The return of tourists to the Costa del Sol
In Valence, at the Café de la Bourse, vacationers are taking advantage of the terraces despite the period: “There are more tourists and foreigners than usual, especially on weekends,” notes this restaurateur.
Mathilde was also able to see that the streets of the city center were crowded.
“Tuesday I went to dinner with a friend,” she says.
At 8 p.m., it had been dark for two hours, we were still 19-20°C, and the terraces were full of people... It's a bit strange all the same.”
And on Thursday, “it was really good”, and even “warm” in the sun sheltered from the wind.
But with “a little air circulating, we don’t necessarily have the feeling of being at 30°C,” explains the just-fifty-year-old, logistics manager in a large company.
However, there is no question of going for a dip in the residence's swimming pool, open all year round: “Open, but not heated!
» specifies Mathilde.
However, the Frenchwoman does not hide her concern.
“From the outside, it might seem nice,” she reacts.
But it's worrying, because it shows how out of control it is.
And if we have this weather now, in January, what will it be like this summer?
If this continues, we will still have drought problems.”
“It’s scary”
On the other side of the country, on the Atlantic coast, Françoise can't believe it either: "We had an exceptional day today
(Friday, editor's note)
, blue skies, and the sun was hot, really" .
This retired teacher, regular resident of a small town near Cádiz (Andalusia) and now permanently settled there with one of her sons, does not remember having ever experienced such a summery month of January.
“Of course, here we don’t experience snow or extreme cold,” she points out.
But this is the first year that we have had these temperatures in January.
We can have lunch outside, have a barbecue, no problem.”
These summer days in the middle of winter, “it’s scary at the same time,” recognizes Françoise.
The octogenarian fears water restrictions in particular, and also wonders what July and August will be like: “If we're hot like that at this time, what will it be like this summer?
Winter drought
Retired on the Costa del Sol, Amalia is also worried about the consequences of the temperatures.
And for good reason, in 41 years of living here, she does not remember having ever seen the mercury this high in the middle of January.
Faced with the situation “which reminds us of vacations”, the sixty-year-old fears the lack of water to come.
Because if the heat attracts tourists, it poses a serious risk of fire to the region on sunny days.
Near Malaga in the middle of January, the climate is already considered very dry, as shown in this photo taken by Amalia.
It is not so much the intensity of the heat wave that worries residents - used to heatwaves - but rather the fact that the situation continues.
Amelia says she hasn't seen a drop of rain since October, apart from a light drizzle last week, "but not enough to water the plants."
Witness to the aridity, the dried flora is uprooted by municipal agents: “In my street we have large planters, but for two days gardeners have been coming to remove everything.
Because it’s forbidden to water the plants.”
Cleaning vehicles no longer pass through the streets, rivers dry up, orange trees wither… “There are many places that have no water.
We need it,” laments the retiree.
Amalia's brother, who lives 80 km away, in Humilliadero, has not had access to drinking water for weeks: "There are trucks that come to supply him, when he comes to my house he takes water potable water ".