Parts of Spain are suffering from an early season heat wave that saw temperatures soar above 40 degrees Celsius on Friday.
Record-breaking temperatures was recorded in the town of Andújar, in the southern region of Andalusia, where the mercury hit 41 degrees, as well as in cities of Seville and Córdoba, which saw 39 degrees.
In the interior of the Balearic holiday island of Mallorca, 35 degrees was reached.
Even after sunset, there is little relief. In large parts of southern and central Spain, the temperatures are not falling below 20 degrees even at night.
Forecasters say a hot air mass should move further north on Saturday, with Madrid expected to strike 36 degrees at the weekend.
Heat waves
"Summer is eating up spring," was the headline of the newspaper El País in light of the heat waves that are coming earlier every year.
The only plausible explanation for this phenomenon is climate change, the newspaper quoted Rubén del Campo, spokesman for the Spanish meteorological institute Aemet.
It won't be until next week that people in the south can expect the heat to ease up. Yet even then the maximum temperatures should be around 30 degrees.
