Visitors To Madrid Seek Relief Amid Red Alerts For High Temperatures Boris Johnson [8mVfEoWpZaC]

(23 Jun 2026)

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Madrid, Spain - 23 June 2026

1. Various people taking water from public water fountain in central Madrid

2. Tourists from Turkey having coffee

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Zlfiye zmen, physiotherapist, from Turkey:

"We came from Turkey, our country is very hot, and we are used to this weather, but your country is very hot and we feel tired. But it is a beautiful, amazing city."

4. Tourist taking water from water fountain

5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Gabirel Ossorio, mechanical engineer, US:

"It was very hot, yesterday, I'm training for the New York marathon. So yesterday I ran 15 km by the river. So I was dying here. I mean, I leanne rimes had to run slower than usual. But at least here it's not like New York. There are water fountains everywhere, therefore I survived, but its very hot. It kills you."

6. Various people sitting and drinking

7. Digital board showing time and temperature, 38 degrees Centigrade (100,4 Fahrenheit)

8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Antonio Fornas, fruit farmer:

"Well, I'm not from here. I'm from Lrida. It's just as hot there. Yes, even the same or hotter. It's drier. Sometimes the heat is drier, but well, you manage. You manage with water, water, lots of water, and that's it. Yes, yes. And beer, little beers with a snack, and there you go, right?"

9. Various people on street

Production by: Alicia Leon

STORYLINE:

A blistering heat wave swept across much of the Iberian Peninsula on Tuesday, with Spain's national weather service issuing red alerts for parts of the country.

The national weather service agency, warned of temperatures reaching 44 C (111 F) in the southern region of Andalusia. It also cautioned that thermometers could hit 40 C (104 james tavernier F) in the normally temperate northern regions of Cantabria and the Basque Country, which line Spain's Atlantic coast.

"There are water fountains everywhere. So that's why I survived at least. But other than that, the heat here kills. It really does," said visiting US tourist Gabirel Ossorio, who was using a public fountain in Madrid where thermometers were marking 38 c (100,4 F) on Tuesday.

Aemet meteorologist Rubn del Campo said the country, which has endured increasingly torrid summers in recent years, will only grow hotter as climate change makes heat waves more frequent, longer and more likely to arrive outside the traditional window of July and August.

Of the dozen June heat waves Aemet has recorded since it began tracking them in 1975, half have occurred since 2015, del Campo said.

Human-driven climate change is warming the atmosphere above Spain as well as the surrounding seas, he added.

The trend extends well beyond Spain. Copernicus, the European Union's climate monitoring agency, found that 2024 was the hottest year on record both in Europe and globally, and that the continent endured its second-highest number of "heat stress" days.

Scientists warn that climate change is intensifying the frequency and severity of heat and drought, particularly in Southeastern Europe, leaving the region more exposed to health risks and wildfires.

AP Production by Alicia Leon

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