Temperature and rainfall influence where malaria-carrying mosquitoes such as Anopheles species can survive and how well malaria parasites, such as Plasmodium falciparum, develop in them. Past predictions have been inconsistent and have often focused on where malaria might spread, rather than on how severely it could intensify where it already exists.
Cities across Nouvelle-Aquitaine and the Basque Country, including Bordeaux, Bilbao and San Sebastian, matched or exceeded their long-term February records, with temperatures of 27.1C and 27.6C recorded in Bilbao and San Sebastian on Wednesday, more than 13C above average for the time of year.