The heatwave currently affecting Euskadi is causing particular concern among the most vulnerable groups. This is the case for Pedro, a retiree with health issues who is coping as best he can. "I'm finding it quite difficult because I have heart problems and other issues, and people with heart conditions struggle a lot with this," he stated. His strategy involves "fans, keeping cool, and above all, closing up to maintain a lot of darkness inside the house".
“"I'm finding it quite difficult because I have heart problems and other issues"
The key, he explains, is to keep the windows open at night to create a draft and close them during the day to prevent heat from entering the home. "There's no other way," he concludes.
The same sense of strangeness is shared by Arantza, a 45-year-old woman walking her dog early in the morning to avoid the central hours of the day. She believes the extreme heat episode "came too early." "A heatwave in August, okay, but so many temperatures in June... I hadn't experienced that, honestly," she says. The idea of installing air conditioning has crossed her mind, but she admits it's "a bit expensive" and for now, they have to make do "with the fan and quick showers".
Air conditioning, once more a feature of the Mediterranean landscape, has become a topic of conversation in Euskadi. While some citizens have already installed it, considering the heat "unbearable," others believe that "four days of heat aren't worth it." Some have considered it but haven't decided yet.
Faced with technology, traditional solutions and popular ingenuity emerge. "With a fan and a water jug, you get by, no problem," assures a citizen. Others resort to resignation and pragmatism: "Get into the shade, hydrate, and that's it. You can't fight against the elements."
The public perception of experiencing something out of the ordinary is fully supported by the data. Euskadi is registering the highest temperatures ever known in the month of June, with records such as 41.3 degrees in Loiu. The situation has led to the activation of red alert for several consecutive days.
Enrique Armengol, the AEMET delegate in Euskadi, describes the episode as "extraordinary, exceptional." "Our anomaly is super-infrequent; it has never happened to us before in Euskadi. We are breaking records from centennial series," he explained. The cause is a mass of subtropical air reaching "latitudes further north than they have ever reached before".
The heat is not only felt on land. Sea temperatures also broke records for the second consecutive day, reaching 25.2 degrees at the Aquarium of Donostia. According to Armengol, these are "temperatures typical of a Mediterranean climate".
And looking towards the future does not alleviate the situation. The European prediction model indicates that, although with less intensity, the heat will continue for the next six weeks and that, in general, the summer will be warmer than usual. "It's clearly going to be hot for the summer," Armengol confirms.
Regarding rainfall, the quantity is expected to be typical for a summer, but its form has changed. "It doesn't rain the same," warns the AEMET delegate. Precipitation is becoming more torrential, with more dry days between intense rain episodes, a pattern that is bringing Euskadi closer to a Mediterranean climate: "We are becoming a bit more torrential".
