STORY: Spain faces first heatwave of the summer
DATELINE: June 28, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:28
LOCATION: SEVILLE, Spain
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Seville, Spain under high temperatures
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Spanish): RUBEN DEL CAMPO, Spokesman for the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET)
3. various of Seville, Spain under high temperatures
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Spanish): RUBEN DEL CAMPO, Spokesman for the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET)
5. various of Seville, Spain under high temperatures

STORYLINE:

Spain this week is facing its first heatwave of the summer, with 23 provinces showing yellow or orange alerts and the maximum temperatures reaching 43 degrees centigrade on Tuesday, according to the country's State Meteorological Agency (AEMET).
   
According to AEMET's forecast, the provinces of Cadiz, Cordoba, Seville, Jaen, Ciudad Real, Toledo, Badajoz and Madrid will be on orange alert, meaning there is a significant risk of extreme temperatures.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Spanish): RUBEN DEL CAMPO, Spokesman for the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET)
"Heat waves in June are three times more frequent than in decades."

The current heatwave began on Sunday, and is expected to continue throughout the week. On Tuesday, temperatures are expected to rise in the Canary Islands, exceeding 34 degrees to 36 degrees in most of the interior of the southern half of the peninsula, the Ebro Valley and the Canary Islands. Temperatures could reach 38 degrees to 40 degrees in the valleys in the southwest of the peninsula.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Spanish): RUBEN DEL CAMPO, Spokesman for the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET)
"We are talking about a hot summer with very high temperatures, but as we say with periods in which there will be stormy showers that will make a little timeless relief from the heat."

According to a study by the Center for Land Policy and Valuations (CPSV) at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the average increase in temperatures in the main cities of the peninsula between 1971 and 2022 has been 3.54 degrees.

March 2023 saw the least rainfall in the entire 21st century, making it the second-warmest month of March since 2000, and the third-warmest since records began in 1961. At the end of March, high temperatures caused a wave of wildfires that lasted for several days in both eastern and northern Spain.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Seville, Spain.
(XHTV)