Spain’s Hottest Summer on Record: A Night of 45°C and No Sleep

It was impossible to sleep in Seville on Friday. The city recorded its hottest night of the year, following a Thursday that marked Spain’s highest temperature of 2026: 45.1 degrees Celsius. This heatwave is the peak of what is now the hottest summer in Spain since records began. The last five summers have been the warmest in recent history. The extreme heat has already caused more than 5,200 premature deaths this year, the highest number ever reported. Over 300 historical temperature records have been broken across provinces and towns. One of the most extreme events occurred on the night of August 19 in the Valencia region, where temperatures hit 39 degrees Celsius in the middle of the night. That is not a typo: 39 degrees at midnight. This year has also seen the hottest April on record in Spain, the second hottest May globally, and the warmest June ever recorded in Western Europe. France and the United Kingdom have experienced their most extreme summers since 1900 and 1884, respectively. Major European rivers have dried up, forcing the suspension of river traffic and halting activity at factories and nuclear plants. Oceans are also heating to unprecedented levels. The Mediterranean Sea near Mallorca reached a record 33.2 degrees Celsius. This global marine warming is expected to trigger a powerful “El Niño” weather pattern in the coming months. The numbers are staggering. The nights are no longer cool. This summer has turned into a sleepless nightmare, and the data shows it is only getting worse.