The most affected regions were mainly central and northern Spain
The first heat wave of 2026 in Spain, which began on Sunday and is now losing intensity, may have caused 212 deaths associated with extreme temperatures, according to initial estimates from the country’s Daily Mortality Monitoring System (MoMo). The deadliest day was Wednesday, when 95 deaths were recorded, almost half of the total recorded during this heat episode.
The data, still preliminary, points to a significant increase in mortality in the last days of June. So far this month alone, there have been 380 heat-related deaths, more than half of which occurred during this first heat wave of the year. In May, 101 deaths attributed to high temperatures had already been recorded, the highest figure in the entire historical series for that month.
According to the National Epidemiology Center (CNE), it will be necessary to wait a week for the MoMo data to stabilize. This tool, explains scientist Diana Gómez to EFE news agency, does not measure the real number of deaths, but rather a statistical projection comparing the observed daily mortality with the expected mortality for that period and for the temperatures.
However, early data reveals that “there was a significant increase” in the last four days of June.
The most affected regions were mainly central and northern Spain, according to . Catalonia tops the list, with 43 estimated deaths, followed by Castile and León (32), Basque Country (30) and Madrid (28). The majority of victims were over 65 years old and, among them, those over 85 years old stand out, a group that accounts for 148 of the recorded deaths.
Experts warn that episodes of extreme heat are appearing earlier in the year and that this could have a greater impact on mortality. June also left another record: for the first time, minimum temperatures above 30 degrees were recorded for several consecutive nights.
Recent studies also indicate that hot nights are warming faster than days, a phenomenon that researchers consider increasingly relevant to understanding the effects of extreme heat on public health.
