A new anomalous December temperature record has been set in Spain

Scientists are sounding the alarm

While residents of some countries, including Russia, are struggling with snowdrifts and wrapping themselves in scarves, in Spain people are escaping the December heat on the beaches. A new temperature record has been set in the country; on Tuesday in the resort of Malaga the thermometer rose to 29.9 degrees Celsius.

Spain recorded its hottest December day ever. On Tuesday, December 12, the temperature in the resort of Malaga rose to 29.9 degrees, in Valencia, meanwhile, the maximum temperature was 27 degrees Celsius, and in Alicante – up to +24.

The heatwave on Spain’s southern coast comes after a summer of four national heatwaves, marking the hottest year on record.

“This is one of the warmest air masses ever to sweep over Spain at this point in December,” said Ruben del Campo, a spokesman for the national weather agency AEMET.

He added that the heat, coupled with forecasts of scattered rain until the end of February, bodes well for a “not very good” season for winter sports.

The heat, which followed several days of warm air flows across the Iberian Peninsula, surpassed the previous record in December 2010, when a temperature of 29.4 degrees Celsius was recorded in Andalusia.

Such levels would be “much less likely” without “climate change, which is being observed around the world and in Spain,” AEMET said.

Although Spaniards are used to the hot summer months, in recent years they have seen an increasing number of heat waves in other seasons, causing alarm among many scientists.

The frequency of heat waves in the country has tripled in the past 10 years, and the summer weather season has increased by 10 days per decade since the 1980s, according to AEMET.

The heatwave will likely end after Wednesday. AEMET forecasts that cooler air from higher latitudes will bring temperatures down to more normal levels for December.

At the popular Navacerrada ski resort near Madrid, visitors complained about the lack of snow.

Retired university professor from the eastern province of Castellon, Vicente Solsona, said there should be at least three feet of snow in Navacerrada on a day like this.