The first heat wave is coming - 40 degrees Celsius this week

The first heat wave is coming - 40 degrees Celsius this week

The first heat wave of the year will arrive a month earlier than last year.

Spring in Spain will resemble the middle of summer this week, since in some regions the temperature will be above 30 degrees, and in some even 40 degrees, Bloomberg announced.

Extremely warm air, which moves from Africa to the north, will lead to a rise in temperature in the Iberian Peninsula on April 25 and 26, and will peak on April 27 and 28, the Spanish Meteorological Agency announced on Sunday.

The agency said that high temperatures, along with low humidity and winds of more than 30 kilometers per hour will put much of the country at high risk of fire.

Western Europe has had an unusually warm and dry winter and these conditions are likely to continue into the spring and summer months, according to two separate reports from the European Earth observation agency, Copernicus.

Europe had its driest summer in 500 years last year, while other areas of the Northern Hemisphere, from the US to China, also experienced severe drought.

Spain had the second hottest and driest March on record, according to the US National Center for Environmental Information.

The global average temperature was also the second highest for March since records started, back in 1850.

Parts of Spain already limit the use of water for agriculture and the industrial sector, as well as for irrigating public gardens or filling swimming pools.

In India, the eastern regions of the country recorded temperatures of 40 to 44 degrees Celsius last week.