Climate change

Barcelona Shatters 112-Year Heat Record at 40.7 C

Is this undeniable proof of climate change or just natural variability that emissions can't explain?

Published JUL 9

Barcelona Shatters 112-Year Heat Record at 40.7 C

Story

Above: Visitors during a heatwave outside La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona on July 7, 2026. Image credit: Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images

The Facts

Barcelona's Fabra Observatory recorded a temperature of 40.7 degrees Celsius (105.26 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, breaking the previous record of 40 C set on July 30, 2024, in 112 years of data. National weather agency AEMET spokesman Jose Angel Nunez confirmed it was "Barcelona has recorded the hottest day."
PHYS
The Local
Barcelona's El Prat airport recorded 37.7 C on Wednesday, the highest reading in records dating back to 1924, according to AEMET, which issued its highest red heat warning for parts of the Catalonia and Valencia regions that day.
EuroNews
France 24
AEMET on X
Vinebre, in the Ribera d'Ebre area of southwestern Catalonia, reached 44.1 C on Wednesday, the highest temperature ever recorded at that station and the seventh-highest ever recorded by any Meteocat weather station.
NacióDigital
Catalan News
A minimum nighttime temperature of 31.9 C was recorded at the Portbou weather station, the highest minimum nighttime temperature ever logged by any Meteocat station. Extreme heat contributed to 97 deaths in Catalonia during the first week of July.
The Local
Catalan News
Meteocat on X
Spain's second heatwave of the summer began on Sunday and was forecast to last until Thursday. According to the MoMo monitoring system, more than 1,000 deaths in Spain were linked to the heat during the late-June heatwave.
PHYS
Al Arabiya English

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The Spin

Climate-skeptic narrative

A heat spike in Western Europe doesn't explain the hot-cold-hot-cold pattern seen across the Northern Hemisphere. Cloud cover alone can swing Earth's radiation budget far more than trace CO₂ ever could. Climate alarmism builds on a sliver of real science and piles speculation on top.

Chris Martz on X

Steve Milloy on X

Climate-concerned narrative

Barcelona just shattered a 112-year heat record, hitting 40.7 C — and that's not a fluke, that's climate change turning Europe into a furnace. Records don't lie, and the data keeps pointing in one direction. Dismissing this as natural variation ignores what's happening right in front of everyone.

Luis Guillermo Hernández on X