In Malaga right now, stepping outside can feel less like summer and more like opening an oven — a reality an Irish woman living on Spain’s Costa del Sol says is making day-to-day life and work increasingly hard as temperatures climb beyond 40C.
Emily Allen has been living in Spain for 25 years.
Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One, she said the struggle is about more than a number on the thermometer.
“It’s also the fact that here we have the Terral wind, which is basically hot wind kind of blowing in your face the minute you walk outside, it’s like opening an oven door.
“Also, we have what’s called like Saharan calima, kind of like a haze of desert dust, which has just come over in the last hour. So, it’s all hazy at the moment.
“Malaga city centre, I mean, the peak here is about 40C and the inland kind of microclimates, I mean, I’m talking about like 15 minutes down the road, it’s up to 44-45 degrees.”
Listen: Emily Allen describes what conditions are like in Malaga at present
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Allen, who works in tourism, said the extreme heat is reshaping how people move through the city and even when they choose to eat, work and sightsee.
“Restaurant wise, Malaga is such a beautiful city, but nobody is going to the terraces. If they are eating out, it’s inside in the air-con.
“Also, going out at midday, particularly because I work with Irish tourists coming here to Spain, visiting historical and cultural kind of landmarks at midday is actually dangerous.
“Basically, people have a different timetable at the moment, particularly people who work in the outdoors, construction, but also all the administrative staff,” she said.
Hazy sunshine in Malaga, Spain (Photo: Emily Allen)
Read more: Thousands flee as wildfires hit France, Italy and Spain
