Scorching temperatures may be expected in the summer months in southwestern Europe, but not so much in springtime.
Yet Portugal and Spain have seen temperatures hitting the mid- to high-30s C in the final week of April.
“We have reached record-breaking values in many parts of our geography, for this part of the year,” said Víctor Resco de Dios, a professor of forestry at the University of Lleida in Spain, noting in an email that such high temperatures would be higher than those expected in June.
The hot weather has left the Iberian Peninsula neighbours managing heat-related challenges quite early in the year, as officials scramble to keep people safe.
In some cases,
