RECORD high temperatures have hit much of Europe during October, according to new figures.

Experts say the unseasonably high temperatures experienced over the last month were due to the accelerating impact of climate change.

Ruben del Campo of Spain’s meteorological service Aemet said on Sunday: “The month has not yet ended but we can already say practically without fear of contradiction that it will be the hottest day in Spain since 1961,” when records began to be collated.

He said that this is likely to mean that the last month was Spain’s warmest October for a century.

“One, two days above 30°C is normal” for Spain, said del Campo. “But so many days, no. These are summer temperatures, whereas we are already heading into autumn.”

Temperatures in San Sebastian, in the Basque country of northern Spain reached 30.3°C last Friday morning, which is well above the seasonal average.

Mr del Campo said there was a “notable acceleration” in climate change over the past decade, exposing Spain to increasing creeping desertification.

According to the Climate Central think tank, the Spanish cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Zaragoza are all in the top 10 European cities most affected by global warming on the evidence of the past 12 months.

Sweden also saw a record high of 19.5°C in the southern city of Kristianstad on Friday.

Erik Hojgard-Olsen, a meteorologist at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, said: “This is the highest temperature ever recorded in Sweden this late in the year.”

Meteo France said temperatures in south-west France on Friday closed at 30°C.

In Belgium, the capital Brussels saw a maximum forecast of 24°C, which is some 10 degrees higher than the norm for late October.

The World Meteorological Organisation tweeted on Friday: “Hard to believe it’s late October as large parts of Europe (and North Africa) see unusual heat.”

Mr del Campo said that some people may see an upside in being able to keep the central heating off for now, or even manage an out-of-season trip to the beach, “but in reality, the consequences are not good,” he said, noting low water levels in reservoirs.

This is bad news for Spain, whose intensive agriculture provides Europe with a hefty proportion of its fruit and vegetables.

Spanish reservoir levels were last week down to 31.8 per cent of capacity compared with their decade seasonal average of 49.3 per cent.