Spain sets preliminary record of 116.96 degrees

MADRID — Spain set a new provisional heat record of 116.96 Fahrenheit on Saturday as Southern Europe sweltered under a relentless summer sun.

Italy put 16 cities on red alert for health risks and Portugal warned 75% of its regions that they faced a “significantly increased risk” of wildfires.

Data from Spain’s State Meteorological Agency said the potential new record was recorded at Montoro, Cordoba, at 5:10 p.m. If confirmed, that would exceed the country’s previous record of 116.42 F, set nearby in July 2017.

The high heat comes only days after Sicily reported a temperature of (119.84 F on Wednesday, which is also awaiting verification and would be the highest ever recorded in Europe.

Europe’s current heat record came in 1977 when Athens hit 118.4 F.

In the southern Spanish province of Granada, where the mercury rose to 113.7 F, few people ventured outside. Those who did sought shade and stopped to take photos of public thermometers displaying the rocketing temperatures. Ice cream parlors did a brisk trade and some restaurants installed sprinklers to spray mists of water over their guests.

Miriam García, a student, wished she hadn’t braved the heat.

“It is very hot, we have to drink water and put on sun cream all the time, stopping to have a drink at a bar every so often,” she said. “It would be better to be at home than in the street, it’s so hot!”

Dominic Royé, a climate scientist at the University of Santiago de Compostela, said the hot air from the Sahara Desert that has brought days of heat and fueled hundreds of wildfires across Mediterranean nations shows no signs of ending anytime soon.