MADRID -- Spain this year recorded its third hottest summer since official records began 62 years ago, authorities said Thursday, with temperatures peaking at 46.8 C (116 F) as the country's severe drought dragged on.

       The average summer temperature was 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.34 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal, the Spanish weather agency AEMET said.

       The World Meteorological Organization said last week that last month wasn't only the world’s hottest August scientists ever recorded by far. It was also the second hottest month measured after July 2023.

       Since 1961, mainland Spain’s average temperature has risen 1.6 degrees C (2.88 degrees F), according to AEMET.

       Spain’s two hottest summers were in 2022 and 2003.

       This year's January-August period in Spain equaled the same periods in 2022 and 2020 as the country’s hottest ever recorded over those months, AEMET said.

       At the same time, this summer was the rainiest since the turn of the century, AEMET said, though most of Spain is still in the grip of an extended drought. Northeast Spain is enduring its most extreme drought since records began.

       Also, between January and August Spain’s coastal waters heated up more than ever previously recorded, according to AEMET.

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