Heat records have fallen or been tied in several places around the world this summer, including in Japan and parts of China.

“August 2024 was the warmest in history in mainland Spain,” the AEMET meteorological agency said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday evening.

The average temperature was two-tenths higher than that in 2003 and 2023, which were previously the warmest Augusts in the country, it said.

Judging by temperatures recorded so far this year, 2024 could end up being the warmest year in Spain since records began, tied with 2022, the agency said.

Up until now, 2022 was the hottest year on record, with an average temperature of 15.7°C.

In August, the European Union’s climate monitor, the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said that it was “increasingly likely” that 2024 would end up being the hottest year on record worldwide.

Swathes of China logged the hottest August on record last month, the weather service said on Monday, as Japanese authorities announced that this summer had been the joint warmest since records began.