🇪🇸 Madrid Climate Health Index
Friday, 14 August 2026 · updated 05:21 UTC · refreshes live through the day · LIVE
Modelled estimates · Medically reviewed guidance · Not an official warning service
est. = index derived by Mobi Doctor's model from the weather inputs. All values are modelled estimates from European weather and atmospheric forecast systems (Open-Meteo · CAMS/Copernicus) — not direct readings from a monitoring station in this city, and not official public-health warnings.
Cancer Immunology Researcher
The Climate Health Score for Madrid today is 9.6/10 — extreme exposure on a 0–10 scale where 10 is extreme. It reflects the worst of ten live hazard readings for Madrid — heat, UV, air quality, pollen, hydration demand, allergy, mosquito activity, fire weather, flu season and cold — and is recalculated through the day by Mobi Doctor's European Climate Health Index.
How heat behaves in Madrid
Madrid's heat is high-plateau heat: at ~650 m on a dry meseta, afternoons climb fast and humidity stays low, so sweat evaporates efficiently but fluid loss is deceptively rapid. The saving grace is the diurnal swing — nights usually cool harder than in coastal Spain, giving the body a recovery window that Mediterranean cities lose first.
The exposure map of Madrid follows its housing. The dense central districts — Sol, Lavapiés, Chueca — are stone and asphalt with little tree cover, and their older buildings put the cheapest flats directly under the roof, where indoor temperatures peak long after sunset. The southern districts along the M-30 run measurably hotter than leafy Chamberí or the streets bordering Retiro and Casa de Campo, and outdoor workers on the meseta's building sites face the day's full radiation with almost no natural shade.
Heat and your health in Madrid today
Feels-like maximum 37°C (air temperature 37°C) · tonight's minimum 25°C · humidity 39% · heat pillar score 9.6/10
Where today sits in Madrid's year: the heat season here typically runs mid-June to early September, peaking mid-July to mid-August. Tropical nights in Madrid: occasional — mainly in the dense centre during heatwaves, when the heat island keeps evenings warm while the suburbs cool.
Heat stresses the body long before heatstroke. As the air temperature and humidity climb, your heart works harder to push blood to the skin for cooling, you lose fluid and electrolytes through sweat, and blood pressure can dip when you stand. That is why hot days bring more dizziness, fainting, migraines, kidney strain and falls — and studies of heatwave hospital admissions also report more urinary tract infections, thought to be linked to dehydration — not just classic heat exhaustion.
Night temperature matters as much as the daytime peak. When a night stays above 20°C — a tropical night — the cardiovascular system gets far less of its overnight recovery window — one reason heatwave mortality tracks hot nights more closely than hot afternoons. Tonight in Madrid is forecast to stay around 25°C, so prioritise cooling the bedroom before you sleep.
Pollen count in Madrid today
Leading species: Mugwort at ~3 grains/m³ · pollen score 1.3/10
Madrid's pollen calendar: Cypress January–March (a Madrid speciality) · grass May–June, one of Europe's strongest seasons · olive May–June. The live counts above show where today falls in that cycle.
Pollen allergy (hay fever) is triggered by different plants through the year: trees like birch and alder in spring, grasses in early summer, and weeds such as mugwort and ragweed from late July into autumn. Symptoms — sneezing, itchy eyes, a blocked nose, worsened asthma — flare when daily counts cross species-specific thresholds, and air pollution makes the same pollen load feel worse by priming the airways.
On high-count days: keep windows closed in the early morning and evening, shower and change after time outdoors, and start antihistamines before symptoms peak rather than after. If you use an asthma inhaler, keep it with you on high pollen days.
Allergy load in Madrid today: pollen × air quality
Combined pollen-and-air allergy load 1.5/10 — pollen 1.3 amplified by air quality (EAQI 24) · estimated from live data
Madrid's amplification story is a seasonal irony: the cypress season of January to March coincides exactly with the basin's winter traffic inversions, so the city's signature allergy arrives pre-loaded with the year's worst air. In May and June, grass and olive meet springtime ozone instead.
Allergy risk is more than the pollen count. Exhaust particles damage the airway lining and prime the immune response, so the same grains provoke stronger symptoms on polluted days — and pollutant-stressed plants release more allergenic protein per grain. This combined score therefore reads pollen and air quality together: identical counts can feel very different on clean and dirty days, which is why it is tracked as its own pillar rather than folded into either input.
Today the combination is modest — sensitised people can treat this as a normal day, with the usual seasonal routine.
UV index in Madrid today
Maximum UV index 7.4 · high on the WHO scale
Madrid's strong-UV season: April to September — midday index 9–10 in high summer, boosted by the 650 m altitude.
UV radiation peaks between late morning and mid-afternoon and is invisible — it burns on cool, cloudy days too. At UV 8 and above, unprotected fair skin can burn in under 30 minutes. Repeated burns drive most skin-cancer risk, and some common medicines (certain antibiotics, diuretics, acne treatments) make skin dramatically more sun-sensitive.
Today: SPF 30–50 on exposed skin, sunglasses, and shade between 11:00 and 16:00. Reapply sunscreen every two hours outdoors.
Air quality in Madrid today
European AQI 24 · fair (EAQI scale: 0 good → 100+ worst) · PM2.5 14.5 µg/m³ · ozone 23 µg/m³ · score 1.9/10
Madrid's air runs two seasons: winter traffic pollution trapped under plateau inversions, and summer ozone cooked out of the same exhaust by relentless sun — the hot-day readings above are usually an ozone story, felt first on the afternoon run.
Fine particles (PM2.5) reach deep into the lungs and bloodstream; ozone forms in sunny, hot weather and irritates the airways — which is why heatwaves and smog often arrive together. People with asthma, COPD, heart disease, pregnant women and children feel the effects first: more wheeze, more inhaler use, more chest tightness.
Levels are acceptable for outdoor activity today for most people, including sensitive groups.
Fire weather around Madrid today
Fire-weather score 7.7/10 — 37°C, 39% humidity, wind to 15 km/h · estimated (weather conduciveness, not active fires)
The Guadarrama's pine slopes and the meseta scrub cure to tinder by July, and fires west and south of the capital — the 2022 record summer above all — have hazed Madrid's sky before. In town, the score mostly signals how combustible the wider region is.
This pillar scores how conducive the weather is to wildfire — heat, dry air and wind, the published Angström approach — not actual fires. Its health meaning is smoke: wildfire smoke is concentrated fine particulate that can travel hundreds of kilometres, and a smoke episode hits the same people hardest as any pollution spike — asthma, COPD, heart disease, pregnancy, young children and older adults.
Conditions are fire-conducive today. If smoke does arrive: move indoors, close windows, skip outdoor exertion, and use an FFP2 mask if you must be out in visible haze. For fire itself, follow civil-protection instructions — this score is weather context, never an evacuation signal.
Hydration in Madrid today
Hydration demand score 7.2/10 · estimated from live weather
Madrid dehydrates by stealth: at 650 m in meseta-dry air, sweat evaporates the instant it forms, so you never feel wet while losing fluid at near-desert rates — the classic mistake is trusting how dry you look.
Fluid needs are not fixed — they scale with heat, humidity, dry air, UV and activity. Thirst lags behind need, especially in older adults, whose thirst signal weakens with age. Dark urine, headache, and light-headedness on standing are earlier and more reliable signals.
Today's guidance: High demand — small amounts often, before you feel thirsty; add electrolytes if sweating heavily; needs rise further with activity, sun exposure and body size. (If your doctor has restricted your fluids — heart or kidney conditions — keep to their limit and ask before increasing.)
Mosquito activity in Madrid tonight
Mosquito activity score 5.1/10 — tonight around 25°C at 39% humidity · estimated from live weather (activity, not disease risk)
Mosquito season in Madrid: June to September at dusk near parks and the Manzanares — a modest season by Mediterranean-coast standards. The score above places tonight inside that season using live temperature and humidity.
Mosquitoes fly when nights are warm and humid enough — activity climbs steeply once evenings hold above about 15°C and peaks on still, muggy nights. Southern Europe adds the tiger mosquito, a day-biter now established across much of the Mediterranean, whose continued spread north ECDC tracks. In parts of southern and central Europe, late summer also brings limited local transmission of mosquito-borne infections such as West Nile virus — an activity score is not a disease-risk score, but high-activity weeks are when precautions earn their keep.
Practical: use a repellent containing DEET or icaridin at dusk, cover ankles and wrists outdoors in the evening, screen or close windows at night, and empty standing water on balconies weekly. Speak to a doctor about any fever that develops in the week after heavy bite exposure in an affected region.
Flu season in Madrid: where today sits
Flu-season level 0.5/10 · seasonal climatology (ECDC winter pattern), not live case counts
Madrid's flu wave usually builds through December and crests in January — the winter hospital-pressure story is a national news ritual — before fading through March. In summer the score sits at the seasonal floor; the autumn vaccination campaign starts in October.
Influenza in Europe is sharply seasonal: transmission runs low through summer, builds from late autumn as life moves indoors and cool, dry air favours the virus, then peaks between December and February in ECDC's surveillance pattern. This pillar follows that climatology — it tells you where the calendar sits, not this week's case counts, and we label it that way rather than dress a seasonal curve up as live surveillance.
What to do with it: the score rising through autumn is the cue that vaccination time has arrived — October to November gives antibodies time to build before the peak, and matters most for over-65s, pregnant women, young children and anyone with heart, lung, kidney or immune conditions. At today's low seasonal level, a summer fever is far more likely to be something other than flu — and worth a doctor's opinion if it lasts.
Cold stress in Madrid: the other end of the index
Cold-stress score 0.0/10 — tonight's minimum around 25°C
Winter Madrid is a meseta city: clear nights drop below freezing regularly, and cold snaps can be severe — storm Filomena buried the city in snow in January 2021. Heating is near-universal, so cold risk concentrates outdoors and in the poorly insulated fringe.
Across Europe, cold claims more lives each year than heat — mostly quietly, through winter's extra heart attacks, strokes and respiratory infections rather than hypothermia. Cold air raises blood pressure and thickens blood within minutes, narrows airways, and stresses hearts hardest in the first snaps of the season, before bodies and habits adjust. Indoor cold in poorly heated homes does as much damage as the weather outside.
Cold is not a factor today — the score sits low, and this pillar will matter again when the season turns. It stays on the page year-round because an honest index needs both ends of the thermometer.
The Madrid climate-health year
Madrid's health year has two allergy acts before the heat arrives: cypress pollen from January to March — the city is one of Europe's cypress-allergy capitals — then an intense grass and olive season in May and June, fed by the surrounding meseta. Serious heat usually begins in mid-June, holds through a long, dry July and August, and breaks with the first Atlantic fronts of September. Winter brings cold snaps and, in stagnant spells, the traffic-pollution episodes the basin is known for.
| Season | Typical pattern in Madrid |
|---|---|
| Heat season | mid-June to early September |
| Peak heat | mid-July to mid-August |
| Tropical nights | Occasional — mainly in the dense centre during heatwaves, when the heat island keeps evenings warm while the suburbs cool |
| Pollen calendar | Cypress January–March (a Madrid speciality) · grass May–June, one of Europe's strongest seasons · olive May–June |
| Mosquito season | June to September at dusk near parks and the Manzanares — a modest season by Mediterranean-coast standards |
| Strong-UV months | April to September — midday index 9–10 in high summer, boosted by the 650 m altitude |
Typical seasonal patterns from established climatology — the live scores above always reflect today's actual conditions.
Visiting Madrid? What travellers should know
Madrid punishes the standard tourist itinerary: the Prado-to-Retiro-to-Palacio circuit is mostly unshaded, and the altitude makes the UV stronger than the temperature suggests. Do monuments and neighbourhoods before 13:00, use the museum hours for the 15:00–18:00 furnace, and treat the local rhythm — long lunch inside, late evening outside — as heat advice rather than folklore. Terrace drinking in full afternoon sun accelerates dehydration faster than most visitors expect at 650 m.
If you do get ill away from home, you don't have to navigate a foreign health system for something a consultation can solve: speak to a Mobi Doctor physician online from your hotel or apartment.
Medicines that need extra care in Madrid at 37°C
Most medicines are licensed for storage below 25°C; several everyday ones degrade fast beyond that — and a parked car at 37°C outside reaches roughly 53°C inside within half an hour. At today's temperatures treat every fridge-line and pen-injector medicine as at-risk whenever it leaves the house.
Insulin all types & pens
Storage: Unopened: fridge 2–8 °C, never frozen. In-use pens: up to 28 days below 30 °C, away from sun.
In this heat: Heat above the labelled range can damage insulin, and warm weather can speed absorption from the injection site in some people, raising hypo risk — check glucose more often and follow the storage instructions for your specific product.
Hot car: A parked car can exceed 50 °C — insulin left inside should be replaced. Appearance is not a reliable damage test (some insulins are normally clear, some normally cloudy): if in doubt, ask a pharmacist.
GLP-1 injections Ozempic · Wegovy · Mounjaro
Storage: Unopened: fridge 2–8 °C. In-use: below 30 °C for a limited window — typically 3–6 weeks, check your leaflet.
In this heat: Above 30 °C the peptide degrades; do not use if the solution has particles or colour.
Hot car: Left in a hot car once — assume compromised and call a pharmacist before injecting again.
Adrenaline auto-injectors EpiPen · Jext · Emerade
Storage: Room temperature 15–25 °C. Never refrigerate — cold can jam the mechanism.
In this heat: Heat degrades adrenaline; a weakened pen may fail during anaphylaxis — check the viewing window stays clear.
Hot car: Glovebox reaches 60 °C+. A pen exposed even once should be replaced promptly.
Testosterone gels · injections · patches
Storage: Below 25–30 °C depending on product; gels are alcohol-based and flammable.
In this heat: Heat degrades gels; skin patches release MORE hormone when hot — absorption shifts on hot days.
Hot car: Do not store in vehicles; vials and gels lose potency within days of heat cycling.
Refrigerated antibiotics & biologics reconstituted suspensions · adalimumab…
Storage: Strict 2–8 °C cold chain. Reconstituted antibiotic syrups usually last only 7–14 days even refrigerated.
In this heat: Warm exposure silently cuts potency — the course may fail without looking any different.
Hot car: Never. A pharmacy-to-fridge trip in a hot car already needs a cool bag.
Thyroid & hormone tablets levothyroxine · HRT
Storage: Below 25 °C, dry, in the original blister.
In this heat: Repeated heat cycling (bathroom, car, windowsill) degrades levothyroxine measurably.
Hot car: Days of car storage can leave tablets under-dosed.
Medicines that change how your body handles heat
- Diuretics — amplify fluid and electrolyte loss — dizziness and falls risk climbs in heat
- Blood-pressure medicines (ACE-i, ARBs, beta-blockers) — can affect fluid balance, blood pressure and heat responses in some people — never stop or change them in hot weather without medical advice
- Lithium — dehydration concentrates blood levels toward toxicity — hydration is critical
- Antipsychotics, anticholinergics, some antidepressants — impair sweating and temperature regulation
- Insulin & sulfonylureas — faster absorption and reduced appetite in heat raise hypo risk
- NSAIDs (ibuprofen, naproxen) — strain the kidneys when dehydrated
- Stimulants (ADHD medicines) — raise core temperature during exertion
Never stop a prescribed medicine because of hot weather — a doctor can adjust timing or dose. Mobi Doctor's physicians can advise online, usually within minutes.
Should I speak to a doctor about heat symptoms?
Heat illness escalates in stages, and the right response depends on which stage you're seeing. Use these three tiers — and on a day like today in Madrid, when the heat pillar is high, err toward the more cautious tier:
ACall 112 now — emergency signs
- Confusion, slurred speech, or disorientation; a seizure; or fainting that doesn't resolve within a minute or two
- Skin that has turned hot and dry after earlier heavy sweating, or a body temperature of 40 °C or more — signs of heatstroke
- Chest pain, severe shortness of breath, or a racing pulse that doesn't settle with rest in the cool
- Heat-exhaustion symptoms — dizziness, headache, nausea, cramps, pale clammy skin — that are no better after 30 minutes of rest, cooling and fluids: this can be heatstroke developing
- A baby, elderly person, or someone with heart disease who becomes limp, unresponsive, or "not themselves" in the heat
While waiting: move them to the coolest place available, remove excess clothing, cool the skin with water and moving air, and do not give fluids to anyone who is drowsy or confused.
BSpeak to a doctor today
- Heat symptoms that improve with cooling but keep returning on hot days, or leave you washed out for more than a day
- Repeated vomiting, or very dark urine / almost no urination through the day
- You take diuretics, blood-pressure, heart, or diabetes medication and feel unwell in the heat — some of these medicines change how your body handles fluid and temperature
- You are pregnant, or you have a heart or kidney condition that feels worse than usual in this weather
CSelf-care and recheck in 30 minutes
- Mild headache, tiredness, or thirst: move somewhere cool, remove unnecessary clothing, drink plenty of water or an isotonic sports drink, and cool the skin — spray or sponge with cool water and fan
- Recheck at 30 minutes. Improving means continue resting out of the heat for the rest of the day. Not improving is an emergency — call 112 (tier A), not a wait-and-see
Local numbers in Spain: 112 — EU-wide emergencies · 061 — urgencias sanitarias · for non-urgent concerns, a Mobi Doctor physician is online in minutes.
General guidance, not a personal assessment — when in doubt, call. In an emergency always call 112.
Sources for the medical guidance
The clinical guidance on this page follows public authority sources:
Medication storage limits follow each product's manufacturer information (SmPC / patient leaflet) — always defer to the leaflet for your specific product, and to your prescriber for personal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Madrid today?
Outdoor exertion is not advisable today — the heat pillar is at 9.6/10. If you must train, the least-bad window is tomorrow 07:00–09:00 — feels like ~24°. Indoor, cooled exercise is the safer choice.
Do I need to worry about storing insulin or Ozempic in Madrid this week?
Yes. Daytime highs around 37°C exceed the below-30°C limit for in-use pens if they are left in sun, bags or vehicles. Keep unopened stock in the fridge (2–8°C), carry in-use pens in an insulated pouch, and never leave them in a parked car.
Who is most at risk from today's conditions in Madrid?
Today's Climate Health Score is 9.6/10 (Extreme). Elderly: extreme · Children: extreme · Outdoor workers: extreme · Athletes: extreme. Driven by feels-like 37° heat and a tropical night.
Will tonight be a tropical night in Madrid?
Yes — the minimum stays around 25°C (a tropical night is one that never drops below 20°C). Cool the bedroom before sleep, use light bedding and hydrate before bed; hot nights are when heat strain accumulates.
When is the heat season in Madrid?
Typically mid-June to early September, peaking mid-July to mid-August. Occasional — mainly in the dense centre during heatwaves, when the heat island keeps evenings warm while the suburbs cool. Today's score at the top of this page reflects live conditions, not the seasonal average.
When is pollen season in Madrid?
Cypress January–March (a Madrid speciality) · grass May–June, one of Europe's strongest seasons · olive May–June. This page tracks live counts for six species (alder, birch, grass, mugwort, olive and ragweed) and updates them through the day.
When is mosquito season in Madrid?
June to September at dusk near parks and the Manzanares — a modest season by Mediterranean-coast standards. The live mosquito-activity score on this page places tonight inside that season using temperature and humidity — it measures activity conditions, not disease risk.
Highest-risk cities in Europe today
All cities:
Madrid score history — last 30 days
One point per day, refreshed by the daily rebuild. Full archive downloads in the press room.
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Cite this page: “Mobi Doctor — European Climate Health Index, Madrid Climate Health Index”, https://www.mobidoctor.eu/health-index/madrid/ — updated daily, data CC-BY 4.0 with attribution.