Record-breaking 40.7ºC registered at Barcelona's Fabra Observatory

Barcelona's Fabra Observatory recorded a temperature of 40.7ºC, the highest temperature recorded in more than a century of data. 

Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 pm, the thermometer read 40.7ºC on the south side of  Tibidabo, a value never before seen. 

The weather station at the Fabra Observatory has 112 years of weather data, with the previous maximum temperature recorded on July 30, 2024 at 40.0ºC. 

The temperature came during the second heatwave of the summer. That Wednesday, a red heat alert was in place across most of Catalonia.

Other areas around Barcelona also experienced extreme heat, the Raval station thermometer climbing to 38.3ºC and Zona Universitària reaching 39.6ºC. Both temperatures being the second highest ever observed in two decades of data. 

Over 44ºC

Vinebre, in Ribera d'Ebre, southwestern Catalonia, also reached a record-breaking high of 44.1ºC on Wednesday. That value is the highest recorded at that weather station, and the seventh highest ever recorded by any weather station by Meteocat, Catalonia's meteorological agency

Parts of Catalonia experienced an infernal night on Tuesday night, with temperatures staying above 30ºC. 

In Portbou, temperatures did not drop below 31.9ºC, the highest minimum nighttime temperature ever recorded by any Meteocat station. 

The high temperatures contributed to 97 deaths in Catalonia during the first week of July, a number that exceeds the usual number of deaths for the whole month since 2015.