Spain has officially lived through its hottest April since records began in 1961, after temperatures across the country climbed to levels normally expected in early summer rather than spring. According to Spain’s state meteorological agency AEMET, the average temperature across mainland Spain reached 15.1°C in April 2026, breaking the previous record set only three years ago.

For many people across the country, spring barely seemed to exist this year.

Instead, large parts of Spain spent most of April dealing with unusually intense heat, repeated temperature records and increasingly worrying signs of drought just weeks before the start of summer.

Meteorologists say the figures are another sign that extreme weather is becoming less exceptional and more frequent across Spain.

Spain saw temperatures close to 33°C in April

The heat affected almost the entire country during several unusually warm periods throughout the month.

According to AEMET, temperatures remained around 3.2°C above the seasonal average for much of April compared with the 1991 to 2020 climate reference period.

Two particularly hot episodes dominated the month.

The first lasted from April 3 to April 11, followed by another long stretch of heat from April 15 until the end of the month. Between April 18 and April 22, temperatures in some parts of Spain were approaching 5°C above normal for that time of year.

Only a brief cooler spell between April 12 and April 14 interrupted the heat.

Several cities recorded temperatures that felt far more like June than mid spring.

In Santander, on Spain’s normally milder northern coast, temperatures climbed to 32.8°C on April 6. Seville came close to 33°C a few days later, while Tenerife South reached 32.9°C.

Multiple weather stations across Spain broke absolute April heat records during the month.

AEMET also revealed that six individual days during April became the hottest ever recorded nationwide for those specific calendar dates since national records began in 1950.

Those dates were April 10, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22.

Since the beginning of 2026, Spain has already experienced twelve exceptionally hot record breaking days. According to AEMET, under stable climate conditions, only around five such records would normally be expected during an entire year.

That statistic alone is one of the clearest signs of how rapidly temperatures are changing across the country.

Spain’s climate is swinging between drought and extreme rainfall

The heat is not the only issue worrying scientists. April was also extremely dry across much of mainland Spain.

Rainfall reached only 58 per cent of normal levels for the month, with average precipitation across the peninsula standing at just 36.8 millimetres.

Some of the worst rainfall shortages were recorded in Galicia, Catalonia and parts of the Cantabrian coast.

What makes the situation even more striking is how different conditions were only a few months ago.

January and February were among the wettest seen in Spain for decades, bringing unusually heavy rainfall to many regions.

Meteorologists say this pattern of long dry periods interrupted by intense episodes of rain is increasingly matching what climate scientists have been predicting for southern Europe.

Instead of steady and predictable rainfall spread across the year, precipitation is becoming more irregular and more extreme when it does arrive.

That creates a growing risk of both drought and sudden flooding.

Spain’s Ministry for Ecological Transition says this instability is fully consistent with current climate change projections for the country.

Longer and more intense heatwaves are also expected to become increasingly common.

Europe is warming faster than the rest of the planet

Spain’s record breaking April comes as European officials continue warning that the continent is heating up faster than almost anywhere else on Earth.

Sara Aagesen, Spain’s Minister for Ecological Transition, recently pointed to data from the Copernicus climate programme and the World Meteorological Organization showing that Europe is warming at roughly twice the global average rate.

That reality is already becoming visible across Spain. Heatwaves are arriving earlier in the year, warm nights are becoming more frequent and periods of drought are lasting longer.

At the same time, extreme weather events such as torrential rain and flash flooding continue affecting different parts of the country with increasing regularity.

In response, the Spanish government has now launched a new public platform called GOTA designed to centralise hydrological and meteorological information.

Officials say the system is intended to improve transparency around water management while helping citizens better understand climate related risks.

But for many people in Spain, the changes are already becoming impossible to ignore without needing statistics or scientific reports. When cities are approaching 33°C in April and spring starts feeling more like the middle of summer, the shift becomes very difficult to miss.

And with summer still weeks away, many people are already wondering what the coming months could look like if temperatures continue rising at this pace.

Wildfires have already scorched nearly 13,000 hectares across Spain in the opening three months of 2026. This total more than doubles the less that 6,000 hectares affected during the same period last year. Ministry data confirms 2026 ranks as the fifth-worst start in the past decade for land burned by forest fires. Only 2016, 2025, 2018 and 2024 posted comparable or higher early-year losses. Even so, the first-quarter figure sits 29.6 per cent below the ten-year average.

Northwest regions of Spain blaze with earliest damage

This year there have already been 1,568 wildfires in total, with 864 classed as small fires under one hectare. No major fires exceeding 500 hectares appeared in the provisional figures. Northwest Spain accounted for 60 per cent of all incidents and a striking 89 per cent of forest area lost.

Mediterranean zones followed with 12 per cent of events and 44 per cent of woodland damage. Inland communities and the Canary Islands registered far smaller shares. Floral breakdown shows 998 hectares of woodland, 7,836 hectares of scrub and open land, plus 4,113 hectares of pasture and meadow have been destroyed so far.

2025 record fire season hints at growing danger

Full-year 2025 delivered 354,746 hectares burned all over Spain, triple the decade average and the highest total in ten years. That extreme summer, driven by intense heatwaves, left deep scars across the country. Many say similar patterns could repeat if current weather trends continue getting drier and warmer.

January 2026 brought unusually heavy rainfall that provoked rapid and prolific undergrowth. Such lush early growth will now dry out quickly under forecast heat, creating abundant fuel for fires a little later in the year.

Super El Niño patterns suggest heightened risk ahead

Climate models point to a strong El Niño developing through until the end of summer 2026. This change usually brings prolonged heat domes, hot African airflows and reduced rainfall, especially across Andalucia and inland areas. Combined with ongoing rural land abandonment and overgrown landscapes, these conditions raise the chance of widespread blazes. European forecasts are already flagging very high fire danger for the Mediterranean region in similar past years.

Action now can limit future losses

Households in high-risk zones can clear vegetation within 30 metres of buildings and fit fire-resistant materials to roofs and vents. Local authorities, such as INFOCA, are expanding planned burning programmes this year while residents can check daily risk maps from AEMET. Early preparation in spring offers the best defence before peak season arrives. With summer just weeks away, careful and determined steps today could curb the scale of potential destruction in the months ahead.