Spain could experience record heat in April with temperatures predicted to surge to 40C.
The unseasonably hot weather is expected to build through the week and peak between Wednesday and Friday.
Spain’s state meteorological agency Aemet said there will be a “progressive entry of a very warm and dry air mass of African origin” causing “values typical of summer”.
Temperatures in the Guadalquivir valley in the Andalusia region could even reach 40C on Thursday or Friday, forecasters said.
However, the scorching temperatures are expected to plummet by Sunday.
The hottest temperature ever recorded in Spain for April was 37.4C in Murcia in the southeastern part of the country in 2011.
It comes after the nation suffered one of its driest years ever in 2022 and the hottest since records began.
Meanwhile, the price of olive oil hit record highs after a drought in Spain devastated the annual harvest of the smallstone fruit.
The cost of a kilogram of Spanish extra virgin olive oil surged as high as €5.40 (£4.80) in early April, up more than 60 per cent in 12 months.
A poor olive harvest between October last year and February led to a slump in oil production, which fell from 1.5m metric tonnes in 2021-22 to 680,000 tonnes for the 2022-23 growing season.
