MADRID:  As of today, August 27, the searing heat that defined Spain for much of the month has subsided, leaving behind a grim legacy of death and devastation.

The unprecedented heatwave from August 3 to August 18 is now a closed chapter, but the final accounting of its human and environmental toll has only just begun.

Spain’s national meteorological agency, Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), has confirmed what was felt across the country: the heatwave was not only prolonged but also the most intense on record.

Its peak saw average temperatures soaring 4.6°C above the typical heatwave threshold, a new record that surpasses the one set just three years prior.

This extreme period culminated in the hottest consecutive 10-day stretch ever documented in the country since at least 1950.

The human cost has been staggering. The Carlos III Health Institute estimates that over 1,100 deaths were directly attributable to the heat between August 3 and August 18.

This figure has been updated and now stands as a final count, bringing the total excess deaths linked to heat this summer to a tragic number that serves as a profound warning about the vulnerability of populations to a rapidly changing climate.

Simultaneously, the heatwave fueled a historic wildfire season, with blazes consuming over 400,000 hectares of land.

While many of the fires that raged during the peak of the heat have now been contained, the environmental and economic damage remains a monumental task for the Spanish government.

AEMET’s analysis continues to be the most direct and sobering assessment.

The agency’s data confirms that five of the six most intense heatwaves in the last 50 years have occurred since 2019, a trend that underscores a clear and irreversible shift in the country’s climate.

The events of this August are not an anomaly but a harbinger of a new normal, where adaptation and mitigation are no longer optional.