Fourteen provinces in Spain on alert for temperatures up to 38C or strong storms

High temperatures of up to 38C and storms will affect a large part of the south and the inland areas of the eastern half of Spain this Wednesday, 16 August, according to the forecast issued by Aemet. The state weather agency has activated heat or storm warnings in fourteen provinces.

Aemet has warned of a high temperature risk in Cordoba, Jaén, Granada, Mallorca and Albacete, which will reach or exceed 38 degrees; and in Huesca, Zaragoza, Teruel, Madrid, Cuenca, Barcelona, Gerona and Lérida, where it will reach 34 to 37C.

Meanwhile, Aragon and Navarre provinces will have a storm warning this Wednesday, some of which may be accompanied by strong or very strong gusts of wind, heavy rainfall and hail.

This Wednesday will generally be marked by cloudy skies with some high clouds and there maybe some weak and scattered rain, which will tend to subside in the north of Galicia and the Cantabrian area.

Morning intervals of low cloud are also expected in areas in the south, as well as in the Strait of Gibraltar, along the Alboran coast and areas of the Levante. In the afternoon, there will be patches of low clouds in the north-eastern quadrant of the mainland and, more scattered, in the inland areas of the rest of the eastern third of the country and the northern plateau, with the probability of thunderstorms, generally dry.

These storms could be accompanied by occasional showers in the mountains and Aemet does not rule out locally heavy storms with hail in inland areas of the north-east.

The Canary Islands, meanwhile, will have partly cloudy or clear skies on Wednesday, with intervals of low clouds in the north of the islands of with higher mountain ranges.

Haze could affect the Canary Islands, the eastern third of the Iberian peninsula, the Balearic Islands and Melilla, and morning mist or fog is not ruled out in the interior areas of Galicia, the Cantabrian Sea and the far eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, as well as coastal fog in the Strait of Gibraltar.

Temperatures will fall in the Canary Islands, while they will rise in Galicia and the Strait of Gibraltar. Minimum temperatures will rise in the Cantabrian Sea and no changes are expected in the rest.

Finally, trade winds will blow in the Canary Islands, north and north-easterly winds will prevail in Galicia and the Cantabrian Sea, and south-easterly winds will blow in the Balearic Islands. In the rest of the country, light winds will prevail in general, easterly in the Mediterranean area and westerly in the Atlantic.