**The latest GFS model showing temperatures into the high teens and possible low 20s early next week**

If you are heading to Spain, Portugal or southern France this weekend make sure to take your factor 50 as a surge of very warm air will sit over Iberia this weekend with temperatures in parts of Spain forecast to rise into the 40s especially across southern parts of Spain.

Parts of Portugal and southern France will also see temperatures rise into the mid 30s this weekend with unusually warm and extreme conditions for May.

Temperatures this week (May 16th to 22nd) are set to be more like those typically seen in June and July with highs in much of the country between 5°C and 15°C degrees above normal.

The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has warned that temperatures are going to be “unusually high” in the coming days. Expect “Very high temperatures which will exceed 35°C in many parts of the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands,” they said, indicating that Spain could even register its first 40°C of the year.

Although it is not the first time Spain has seen 40°C degrees so early in the year, AEMET fears that this will be “the worst heatwave in May in the last 20 years”.

By Friday and the weekend, there will be no respite from the heat as temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s will be experienced in much of inland Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura. Madrid is also expected to reach 38°C by the weekend.

Those looking to escape the intense heat should head to the likes of Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria in the north or hop over to the Canary Islands, where temperatures are likely to hover around the comfortable low to mid-20s.

AEMET has also warned that the hot weather will increase the risk of wildfires particularly in southern Galicia, Andalusia, Castilla y León and Extremadura, where the agency has asked people to take extreme precautions.