Parts of Spain and Portugal are more than 46℃ – here’s what is going on

Wildfires, drought and extreme heat have been the talk of the town and country across Europe this summer.

• Glenn McGregor
• The Conversation

Attention has now turned to Portugal and Spain, where temperatures at the weekend reached more than 46℃ in some parts of both countries – close to the all-time European record of 48℃, set in Greece in 1977.

Records aside, the obvious question is what is causing the current Iberian heatwave and whether this might be a harbinger of the…

A number of factors can be identified.

These include unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic, a…

• Parts of Spain and…