The beachfront city of Valencia loved by Brits reached its highest temperature on record in January this week, according to Spain’s national weather agency.
On Monday, it peaked at a staggering 27.1C, the highest Spanish weather forecaster Aemet has recorded since it began compiling data in 1869, slightly surpassing the previous high of 26.6C recorded on January 22, 2018.
According to Avamet, the Valencian Meteorological Association, the high temperatures were caused by a strong westerly wind, leading to the warmest night on record.
Avamet reported on Monday morning: “Exceptionally warm night on the coast and near the coast of the Gulf of Valencia due to the westerly wind.
“Some localities in the Albaida valley (around 80km south of Valencia, editor’s note) recorded the warmest January night since records began.”
The strong wind forced the Generalitat’s Emergencies to declare an alert for extreme forest fire risk across most of the Valencian Community, a level of extreme pre-emergency.
On Monday afternoon, a fire broke out in a pine forest in Albaida, and after receiving the alert at 4:50pm GMT, emergency services mobilised a fire engine and a unit of forest firefighters along with four crews and a forest foreman from the Provincial Consortium.
Albaida’s mayor Juan Carlos Roses informed Levante-EMV that “for now the situation is under control; no homes have been evacuated nor will they be unless flames reignite.”
Valencia is a city of two extremes, as it also suffered severe flooding in October last year.
The natural disaster caused widespread damage to the region’s infrastructure, livelihoods, and economy. Moreover, more than 200 people lost their lives.