Andalusia has registered a total of 241 deaths attributed to high temperatures during the month of July, a figure that triples the 83 deaths that occurred in the same period last year. These figures coincide with the arrival of the fourth heatwave of the year in the region, which will last from this Wednesday until Sunday.
The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has issued a special warning due to the forecast of extreme temperatures. Maximums of 40 degrees are expected in areas of Córdoba, Granada, Jaén, and Sevilla, under a red alert, while Almería and Huelva will remain on yellow alert. Warnings for wind and coastal phenomena have also been issued for Cádiz.
The intensity of the heat is worsening, exceeding the 36-37 degrees recorded until now. Red alerts will be active between 1:00 PM and 9:00 PM, with forecasts of reaching or exceeding 40 degrees, especially in the province of Córdoba towards the weekend. Aemet has already warned that the climatological summer of 2026 is proving to be extraordinarily hot in the region.
The data on the 241 deaths comes from the Daily Mortality Monitoring System (MoMo), managed by the Carlos III Health Institute in coordination with the Ministry of Health. These deaths, although heat-related, are not usually directly caused by heatstroke but rather aggravate pre-existing conditions, primarily affecting those over 65, children, and at-risk populations such as pregnant women and chronically ill individuals.
Since the beginning of summer, six direct deaths from heatstroke have been recorded in Andalusia, five of them in the province of Sevilla. The MoMo details the weekly distribution of heat-related deaths: 43 between June 29 and July 5; 116 between July 6 and July 12 (the highest figure of the month); 41 between July 13 and July 19; and 36 between July 20 and July 26. So far this week (July 27 to August 2), five deaths have been recorded in just two days.
The MoMo system uses daily death data from the last ten years from the National Statistics Institute (INE) and the Ministry of Justice, along with maximum and minimum temperatures from the Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet) and population data by age and province from the INE. MoMo has estimation and predictive models to assess temperature-related mortality risk.
Heatstroke, the most severe consequence of exposure to high temperatures, can lead to multi-organ failure when the internal body temperature exceeds 40-40.5 degrees Celsius. This can cause dehydration, hypovolemia, kidney failure, cardiac arrhythmias, and blocked kidney filtration. Heat also exacerbates cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory diseases, and causes decompensation in diabetics and individuals with neurodegenerative diseases.
Damage from excessive heat includes muscle cramps, exhaustion, peripheral vasodilation with reduced blood flow to internal organs, lowered blood pressure, and in extreme cases (42-43 degrees Celsius), brain damage or death.
