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Several factors contribute to fire risk, notably conducive weather (hot, dry, windy), and conducive conditions of the land surface (dry state, low soil moisture, material to burn). Additionally in this case there is the complication that lightning, from a 'dry thunderstorm' may have ignited the fires. During the week before the fires a heatwave affected the Iberian peninsula, and Cordoba, in Spain, may have recorded the highest ever temperature in Spain in June (44.5C) on Friday16 June.
The plot below shows the soil moisture anomaly in the top 3 soil levels in the model. A dry anomaly was present over the Iberian peninsula.
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