I'm given to understand that a very HOT summer is forecast for Spain this year (someone has claimed it'll be the warmest for 50 years). So all those visiting July/August (especially those from more temperate climates) beware, and take precautions..

Where have you learnt that? I am in Spain, and I haven't heard anything on the news.

I heard the same on TVEi. They said that the high springtime temperatures, lack of rain, and (I don't know what else) that they expected an unusually HOT summer in Spain in general.

Stay Cool!

Saludos, MadridMan

Hi MadridMan, how's it going?

You probably don't remember me LOL. I joined a long time ago, but stopped posting, I had a baby, and I work fulltime as well, so... no time for surfing on the net that much!

Anyway, although it is true that the hot has started before this year, it is also true that the government had lots of problems two summers ago, because of not telling people what they should do in case this happened. Now summer 2003 really was a hot summer!

You probably remember it because we were all the time on the news (Spain and France), lots of people died, specially elders, so I guess the government has decided to warn the population that the coming summer will be the hottest one in the last 50 years. They said so last year as well and it wasn't that bad.

In fact, when tempetures rise so early in Spring, the Summer is always shorter, so temperatures get cooler by August. That's my experience of 31 years anyway!

But you were watching TVEi, they didn't say anything in the TVE1. They have different 'schedules', don't ask me why though. LOL

It won't probably be that hot. In fact, two days ago it rained a lot here in Madrid. My patio had 15 cms. of rain in around 20 minutes.

I now remember that last summer we were talking about this in class.

The media repeats the same old story every summer (Hot, hot, hot), which is kind of normal in mediterranean countries (Spain, France, Italy...) as if it were something new .

From my point of view, they do this type of warnings so that we're prepared in order to take the appropriate measures for the "Canicula".

Seriously, the main problem this summer will be that it usually rains a lot from January to May, but this year we've had a drought so it's going to be a serious problem in some places. The scientists have said that it's going to be warmer than last summer but not as warm as it was in the year 2003. That is, the average meditrranean summer.

The government has announced a project to avoid the effects of dry seasons. They're going to build desalination plants along the coast; the new ones might use solar energy in the process.

Well,I think that summers are getting warmer pretty much everywhere.Scientists say that it's due to the GLOBAL WARMING EFFECT.They say that this is all due to industrial pollution that warms up the earth's atmosphere.

The good news about the heat in Spain is that for the most part it's DRY.HUMID heat is worse because it makes you sweat more therefore the body loses more fluids.I prefer DRY over HUMID anytime.

It's HOT in Sevilla! The newspaper today said it is the 7th hottest beginning for June since 1922.

Hi! It's impossible to know how the summer will be. The NASA scientist have alerted that it COULD be an above the average hot summer (by 1ºC), but it's only a tendency, a probability.
The spanish government has alerted the population but only based int this NASA alert, they don't know anything for certain. They don't want to repeat the 2003 mistakes.
The only thing for sure is that we have a SERIOUS drought problem. Rivers have decreased by 41%.
It's being a hot and dry spring, with typical summer conditions.

Carmendeespana said I was in Madrid during the 2003 heat wave...on the day that I arrived in Madrid, the temperature hit 40 C by mid afternoon...

I was there in july 2003, and it was 40 degrees by midday, and when we went to sit on metal chairs outside a bar, we all jumped up immediately (8 of us) as the seats were too hot to sit on!