The Heat Comes Early

It's been interesting to read about the heatwave in the UK, which has come sweeping up the Channel from the Bay of Biscay, but of course it didn't originate there; it has come up from North Africa. And to get to northern parts of Europe it has had to cross the Iberian Peninsula. So we too are in the grip of a heatwave. The big difference is that whilst the UK was lashed by thunderstorms which took some of the sting out of the heat, the earliest that we can expect to see any serious rain is late September/early October.

On the Mediterranean coast we have some moderating effects from the sea, so we have been having maximum temperatures of 32 to 34 degrees, although 36/37 is forecast for the start of next week. Inland, it has been much more oppressive (and still is). Madrid has regularly seen 40 degrees and both Sevilla and Córdoba have been as high as 42 degrees. This is nothing new. It happens every year; but not as early as this! Usually we associate this degree of heat with late July and August, so the question on people's minds is, is this a spike or must we endure it - and possibly higher temperatures still - until early September? And if it is indeed an early start to the hot weather, why should we assume that it will subside on time?

Fortunately, when we renovated our property after buying it we drew on our experience of visiting family in Northern Queensland during their summer. As a result, we installed air conditioning units in the living room and all three bedrooms, as well as ceiling fans, so we are able to combat the heat in a way which most of our Spanish neighbours can't. Our winter heating allowance actually gets spent as a summer cooling allowance.