Heatwave hits province hard as Álora and Malaga record highest temperature in Spain

The town of Álora in the Guadalhorce valley and Malaga Airport recorded the highest maximum temperature in Spain this Wednesday during the latest extreme heatwave to hit the region and much of the rest of the country.

People across the area, if they dared to go outside, felt the full force of the hot ‘terral’ wind, which blows from inland on some days at this time of year, adding several degrees to normal temperatures.

The Spanish met office (Aemet) recorded a maximum of 44.2 degrees in inland Álora and at the airport, which is the officially quoted weather station for Malaga. Coín was next at 44.1C).

The temperature recorded at Malaga Airport is the highest in over 40 years and the all-time record in the city. The last time this record was reached was on 18 July 1978.

The heatwave also left Malaga city with an all-time record night for minimum temperatures, which at 7am on Thursday morning stood at 34.1 degrees at Malaga Airport, something that has not happened since records began in 1942.

The temperature has only exceeded 30 degrees at that time in the morning at the airport on eight occasions, all of them from 2010 onwards, but never with such a high figure.

This is the second time in the last ten days that Malaga has been in the news for extreme temperatures.

On 12 July, the warm terral wind caused the fourth highest temperature since records began in 1943, with 43.3 degrees at the airport.