Alicante Endures Hottest Summer in 150 Years as Tropical Nights Hit Record High

Temperatures in Alicante city remained above 25°C on 15 nights, while the Mediterranean recorded its warmest summer waters since at least 1940

Alicante has endured its hottest summer in at least 150 years, setting new records for oppressive overnight temperatures and exceptionally warm coastal waters.

According to Spain’s State Meteorological Agency, AEMET, the summer of 2026 surpassed the previous record set in 2015 following months of relentless heat. An unusually hot June was followed by a scorching July and August, with repeated heatwaves and little respite after sunset.

Alicante city recorded 15 “equatorial nights”—when the temperature failed to fall below 25°C. The previous record was 14, set in 2015, while 10 were registered in 2023.

High humidity and light or calm winds made conditions feel even more oppressive, leaving residents struggling with stifling heat throughout the night.

Hottest summer on record

AEMET described the climatological summer, covering June, July and August, as “extremely hot and dry” across the Valencian Community.

The average temperature was 26°C, some 2.7 degrees above the normal seasonal average of 23.3°C. Rainfall totalled 32.9 litres per square metre—45 per cent below the reference average of 60 litres.

José Ángel Núñez, AEMET’s head of climatology in the Valencian Community, said the findings were supported by data from the region’s principal observatories, meteorological reanalysis and national temperature reconstructions dating back to 1869.

“It has been the warmest summer since at least 1950 and the driest since 2016,” he said. “It can be stated that it was the warmest summer in at least a century and a half.”

The second-hottest summer was recorded only last year, in 2025.

The intense heat effectively extended the summer beyond the traditional three-month period. Temperatures began rising sharply at the end of May, while significant heat anomalies continued throughout September.

AEMET said the trend was consistent with climate change, which is causing summers to begin earlier, last longer and become increasingly intense.

Five red heat alerts

For the first time since Spain’s Meteoalerta warning system was introduced in 2006, red alerts for extreme heat were activated five times in a single year in the Valencian Community.

Four were issued during July—on the 7th, 8th, 15th and 23rd—with another activated on August 19.

The sea offered little relief. Copernicus Climate Change Service data showed that the average surface temperature across the 56,000-square-kilometre Balearic Sea region was 2.5 degrees above normal.

It was the warmest summer sea-surface temperature recorded in the area since at least 1940. During 45 of the summer’s 92 days, the sea reached its highest daily temperature on record for that date.

Monitoring buoys off the Alicante coast also registered water temperatures exceeding 30°C.

These exceptionally warm waters contributed to record-breaking overnight heat across the Valencian Community. Castellón de la Plana recorded 20 nights when temperatures remained above 25°C, while Valencia suffered 30.

Dry summer punctuated by violent storms

Although the summer was generally dry—particularly during June and July—it was interrupted by isolated but occasionally intense storms.

Some brought short, heavy downpours, while dry thunderstorms on August 7 and 19 affected mountainous areas and helped trigger forest fires.

The storm of August 20 was more widespread, affecting southern Valencia province and northern Alicante.

September also remained exceptionally hot and largely dry. Storms on September 10 and 16 were intense but highly localised, affecting relatively small coastal areas.

On September 16, storms formed inland before moving towards the coast, where they strengthened after encountering humid and unstable easterly air. Parts of the Valencia metropolitan area recorded torrential rainfall of between 90 and 110 litres per square metre in just two or three hours, accompanied by wind gusts exceeding 80 kilometres per hour.

Rainfall remains uneven

The hydrological year, which ends on September 30, is expected to finish slightly wetter than average overall. However, rainfall has varied considerably between areas and was heavily concentrated during the first half of the year.

While many coastal districts recorded a rainfall surplus, significant deficits remained in the Marina Baixa and southern Marina Alta, as well as inland areas of Castellón and northern Valencia.

Warmer autumn expected

There appears to be little prospect of an immediate return to cooler conditions.

AEMET estimates there is a 60 to 70 per cent probability that the climatological autumn—September, October and November—will be warmer than average across Spain. The probability of a colder-than-normal autumn is just 10 per cent.

Eastern and northern Spain, together with the Balearic Islands, have a 40 per cent chance of receiving above-average rainfall, compared with a 25 per cent likelihood of a drier season.

For October through December, the probability of above-average temperatures rises to 70 per cent across most of the country.

The forecast brings the prospect of a warmer and potentially wetter end to a year in which Alicante has already broken some of its longest-standing climate records.

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