Madrid, Aug 9 : July this year was Spain's hottest month on record with an average temperature of 25.6 degrees Celsius, the country's meteorological service Aemet said. The monthly average beat the previous record from July 2015 by 0.2 degrees Celsius and is 2.7 degrees higher than the long-term average for July, reports dpa news agency. Previous records date back to 1961. "We had a very warm air mass over our country for practically the whole month of July," Aemet spokesman Ruben del Campo said on Monday. The heat wave between July 9 and 26 was "additionally fuelled by an even warmer air mass from North Africa", he said. The heat wave, which affected the mainland and Balearic Islands, was the second longest since records began at 18 days, he said. Combined with a months-long drought and strong winds, the heat created favourable conditions for numerous fires to spread in July. 2022 marks the most devastating year for forest fires in Spain on record. In the first seven months, the flames destroyed more than 2,000 square kilometres of land, an area roughly the size of Tenerife, the largest of Spain's Canary Islands. Fires are still burning in many parts of Spain but the situation is much less severe than in July. /IANS