Red heat warning for Valencia and Alicante as temperatures reach 44C, storms forecast for Thursday

AEMET has warned of highs reaching 44 degrees in the north of Alicante province, with the heat index, which factors in humidity, feeling as high as 54 degrees in the worst-affected spots. The Valencia coast should reach 43 degrees, while parts of inland southern Valencia are also forecast to climb above 44. Alicante city itself, along with the southern coastal strip, sits under a lower alert level and should see less extreme conditions today.

Twelve other regions, including Andalucía, Aragón, Castilla-La Mancha and Cataluña, remain under lower orange or yellow warnings today, with highs of between 34 and 42 degrees inland. Only Valencia and northern Alicante have been judged dangerous enough for AEMET’s top level, underlining how localised this particular spike is.

Why a stalled DANA is dragging in the Saharan heat

The spike is being driven by a DANA (a cut-off low-pressure system that has broken away from the jet stream), parked near southern Portugal and Morocco and dragging the Saharan air mass north. AEMET said a strong westerly wind (poniente) is adding to the effect through the hottest hours of the afternoon, pushing already high temperatures even further.

Valencia accounts for 162 of the towns under the red warning, split across its northern and southern coastal zones, while a further 67 municipalities in northern Alicante are also included. The alert runs from 1pm to 9pm, covering the hottest stretch of the day, and residents have been advised to avoid unnecessary travel and follow the guidance of Protección Civil, Spain’s civil protection service. 

Wildfire risk pushes the region to its highest alert level

With humidity extremely low and vegetation parched after one of the driest starts to summer on record, AEMET warned that any fire that broke out today would spread rapidly, with wind and dry ground both working against firefighters. The Generalitat Valenciana, the regional government, raised its wildfire status to preemergency level 3 and banned access to forest trails and natural parks between Wednesday and Friday. 

More than 300 firefighters, including forest brigades and volunteer crews, were placed on standby across Valencia province alone, with shifts extended until 10pm. Six heavy forest fire trucks were stationed at Sagunt, Paterna, Torrent, Gandia, Alzira and Requena, ready to respond the moment a blaze takes hold.

In Valencia city, authorities closed several monuments for the day, extended opening hours at public swimming pools until 9pm and suspended street markets to keep people away from direct sun during the worst of the heat. Similar precautions have been reported in smaller towns across both provinces.

Thursday brings the sharp change: a 10-degree crash and hail

Meteorologists say the same weather system responsible for Wednesday’s spike is about to reverse it completely. By Thursday, temperatures across northern and south-eastern Spain are forecast to fall by up to 10 degrees, with cities including Zaragoza expected to drop from 43 to 37 degrees, Murcia from 42 to 37 degrees and Sevilla from 39 to 31.

Further north the change will be even sharper, with Burgos falling from 35 to 26 degrees and León dropping from 33 to as low as 23 degrees. The shift is being driven by a trough pulling cooler air down across the peninsula from the north-west, the same broad pattern that has kept the atmosphere unsettled for much of August.

Storms are due to return with the cooler air, bringing hail, strong wind gusts and locally intense rainfall. Forecasters said parts of Valencia could see up to 100 litres per square metre of rain in a short period, enough to flood streets and ravines in the worst-affected areas, with the wettest spells expected during the afternoon and evening. 

A fifth red alert in a summer already breaking records

Unsettled weather is expected to persist beyond Thursday, with further showers and thunderstorms possible into the weekend as the system slowly clears the peninsula. Anyone with outdoor plans in the region over the coming days is advised to keep half an eye on AEMET’s short-term forecasts, given how quickly conditions have already flipped once this week.

Wednesday’s alert is also a symptom of a wider pattern. It marked the fifth time this year Valencia has been placed under a red heat alert, matching the total for the whole of 2025, while the first half of August was the region’s warmest on record since at least 1950, with average temperatures running 2.8 degrees above normal. 

For now, residents and holidaymakers across Valencia and Alicante face two very different days back to back: one of the hottest of the summer today, followed almost immediately by hail, wind and a sharp drop in temperature tomorrow.