Spain recorded 5,807 heat-related deaths during the summer of 2026, the highest figure in a decade, according to the national mortality monitoring system (MoMo).

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The estimate, reported on Tuesday, is based on final data collected between May 15 and September 30, the period covered by the National Plan for Preventive Actions against the Effects of Excess Temperature on Health.

The toll surpasses the two deadliest summers since the series started: 2022, with 4,789 deaths, and 2025, with 3,832.

RELATED: France Records 53 Days of Heat Waves This Summer

It is more than 51% above last year’s figure and 188.61% of the 2024 total, when 2,012 deaths were estimated. Even so, it remains well below the summer of 2003, when around 13,000 people died in Spain because of heat, a catastrophe that led the Health Ministry to design a national prevention plan.

🌡️ September 2026 was the 2nd warmest globally & 3rd warmest in Europe on record.

🇪🇺 Western Europe saw exceptional heat, with parts of France, Portugal, Spain & Italy 4–6°C above average.

🛰️ #CopernicusEU tracks climate extremes.

🔗 https://t.co/uMOM5xYwWm#ImageOfTheDay pic.twitter.com/u6R6WS1VNK

— Copernicus EU (@CopernicusEU) October 12, 2026

August Deadliest Month

August produced the most fatalities, with 2,162 deaths. July followed with 2,026, then June with 938, September with 559 and May with 123.

Compared with last year, the 2026 toll stands more than 51% higher. Measured against 2024, the increase reaches 188.61%, a year in which the system calculated 2,012 deaths.

The number has not reached the historic summer of 2003, when roughly 13,000 people died in Spain as a result of high temperatures. That catastrophe prompted the health ministry to design and launch a prevention plan for the effects of heat on health.

The elderly again bore the heaviest burden. Some 97% of estimated deaths attributable to heat occurred among people aged 65 or older, and 62% among those over 85.

Women were disproportionately affected, accounting for 3,486 deaths, or 60% of the total. Men accounted for 2,321. The impact was not uniform across the country, with the highest mortality rates recorded in the north and northeast of the peninsula.

A Year of Extreme Weather

The team coordinating MoMo at the National Epidemiology Center attributes the impact to an exceptional climatic context. It described this summer as the warmest in recent history, with four heat waves identified by the State Meteorological Agency, plus an additional one in early September.

A persistent drought, large wildfires and an intense marine heat wave in the western Mediterranean compounded the situation. Those conditions combined to push mortality to levels not seen in the decade of MoMo records.

The Carlos III Health Institute said the data reinforce the importance of continuous epidemiological surveillance and stronger prevention and adaptation measures against extreme heat. The warning carries weight as climate patterns grow more volatile.

Scientists have linked the exceptional summer to broader climatic shifts, including the Super El Niño phenomenon. Studies suggest that phenomenon could cause heat-related deaths of 451,000 people worldwide over the coming six months.

Jake Edmiston, a business reporter for the Toronto Star, thinks highly of his mustard chicken recipe. So when one batch goes over like a lead balloon, he checks his namesake ingredients and finds that his usual glass pot of Maille Dijon Originale is extraordinarily spicy—a fact he confirms, good reporter that he is, by conducting a blind test with a professional taster. In no time, Edmiston is on the floor of one of Canada’s largest mustard mills, trying to stay dry and avoid mustard dust burns(!), and peppering Unilever, Maille’s owner, with questions. This isn’t exactly a case for Benoit Blanc, but Edmiston’s investigation takes a few surprising turns and drops some serious knowledge on glucosinolates on the way. Every ingredient is in harmony here.

“Do a little dollop,” she said, then turned her back so I could do my work in secret.

I spooned the mustard from my jar onto a plate, and some from another jar of Maille I found in the grocery store that morning. She tried the sample from my jar first and sputtered a little. 

“It’s quite spicy,” she said.

I asked her how much spicier it was than the control jar. 

“Like, 10 times,” she said.

Europe is warming more than twice as fast as the global average—a terrifying statistic made all too apparent this summer as heat wave followed heat wave. European cities were never designed for these temperatures, and public health, infrastructure, and tourism are all under strain. Eric Klinenberg arrives in Milan just as “Europe’s third heat wave of the summer entered its fiercest stretch” and sweats his way across the continent to see how trees, shade, water, and other measures are being deployed to adapt urban centers. But with this crisis set to deepen can these experiments really keep pace?

Of all the problems that heat poses for Barcelona, losing some of the hundred and sixty thousand tourists who typically visit each day ranks low on the priority lists of most officials and residents. Some locals have staged protests, chanting “Tourists go home” while targeting visitors with water guns. But tourism employs more than a hundred and sixty thousand people in Barcelona and accounts for around thirteen per cent of its economic output, which explains why, despite concerns that the city gets too many visitors, more than seventy per cent of residents consider tourism beneficial. At midday, when I arrived on La Rambla, the city’s most heavily visited and photographed corridor, the street had little shade and surprisingly few people. At La Boqueria market, normally jam-packed at lunchtime, I found my way to a famously busy bar counter and took one of several open seats.