MADRID: Fans, air conditioning, swimming pools, cold drinks or ice-cream — all remedies were welcomed on Monday in Spain as Spaniards weathered the earliest heat wave in over 40 years. A cloud of hot air from North Africa has sent temperatures soaring, AEMET forecasters said, and the suffocating heat wave could last in most of Spain until June 16 or 17, a few days before summer officially starts on June 21.

Spain swelters in hottest pre-summer heatwave for 20 years

With temperatures surpassing 40 C (104°F) in parts of central and southern Spain, the current heat wave is the earliest one registered since 1981, according to state meteorological agency AEMET. People rode their bikes through fountains or stayed in the shadows as temperatures rose. But for some, it was work as normal. At Toto e Peppino, a famous Italian restaurant in Madrid, 19-year-old pizzaiolo Simone Roma was working at an oven.