The announcement was made by the Spanish meteorological agency (AEMET), whose representatives express concern about this "anomaly", according to AFP.

According to AEMET, thermometers indicated 29.5°C on the afternoon of January 25 in the Valencia region in the east of the country, 28.5°C in the Murcia region in southeastern Spain, and 27.8°C near Malaga in southern Andalusia.

Several local temperature records for January have indeed been broken throughout the country.

Temperatures "reached or exceeded 20°C" in "almost 400 weather stations" in Spain, i.e., in almost half of them, emphasized AEMET spokesperson Ruben del Campo on the X social network.

According to the Spanish agency, thermometer values did not drop below 10°C on the night of January 24 to 25 in the small ski resort of Puerto de Navacerrada, located in the Madrid region, at an altitude of 1,900 meters.

We are referring to a temperature value "suitable for mid or late June", meaning a "summer" temperature, insisted Ruben del Campo, who called it "an anomaly".

David Corell, a researcher at the University of Valencia, believes that this winter heat, which also affects the southeast of France, is caused by the presence of a strong anticyclone above the Mediterranean region.

"There are no studies yet that have assessed the long-term trend of these types of events, but it is clear that we are experiencing these abnormal situations more and more frequently", he explained to AFPTV.

Accustomed to high temperatures, Spain faces increasingly frequent and closer heat episodes, sometimes outside the summer months, which worries scientists.

The Iberian country has already recorded unusually high temperatures in December 2023, with a maximum of 29.9°C in Malaga, a national record for December.

These heatwaves come in the context of a severe drought, especially in Andalusia and Catalonia, where local authorities have implemented measures to restrict water consumption after three years marked by weak rainfall records.

In Catalonia, the level of reservoirs, which store rainwater for use in drier months, dropped in mid-January 2024 to 17% of their capacity. If the level drops below 16%, which seems imminent, Spanish authorities will have no choice but to declare a state of emergency with additional restrictions.