Spain woke up with alerts yesterday that temperatures would be over 40 Celsius degree in 12 of the country´s provinces.

In addition, forecasters said, high temperatures are going to be increasingly common in the future.

The Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) predicted in a report that maximum temperatures over the period 2071-2100 will rise between 3 and 6 degrees compared with those between 1961-1991.

The findings also show that minimum temperatures will increase by between 2 and 5 degrees.

Spain can also expect a decrease in rainfall. The first half of this century will not see any significant changes, but there will be less rain in Spain between 2050 and 2100, with a decrease of between 15 to 30 percent in the last decade of the century.

The tendency for temperatures to rise in Spain began in the 1980s.

Secretary of State of Climate Change Teresa Ribera warned that the country has to act now to prepare for the climate change.

“We have to start from global climactic models adapted for the individual characteristics of our country,” she said.

The president of the AEMET, Ricardo Garcia Herrera, said the changes don't mean that Spain is going to become to a desert climate, “rather that we are going to a climate with less precipitation and higher temperatures.”

“This is not irreversible if we are able to lower our emission of CO2,” he said.

via Higher temperature, less precipitation predicted in Spain.