Could Wildfires Overshadow Spain’s Solar Eclipse? — Time

RESOLVING THE LEDGER

Fire engines stop on a road as smoke rises from a wildfire in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, west of Madrid, Spain, on July 26, 2026. —Manu Fernandez—AP

Spain will be in the path of totality for a solar eclipse on Aug. 12. Not only is it the first time this type of celestial event has been visible to the mainland since 1905—it is also taking place during Europe’s peak tourism season, which runs from June to August. Millions of people live within the 190-mile-wide eclipse path, which reaches 36 of the nation’s 50 provinces, while hundreds of thousands of international travelers are also expected to visit for the occasion.

Tourists are expected to flock to cities and towns along the path of totality—including parts of Aragón, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, and Valencia—as well as nearby hubs, where a deep partial eclipse will be visible, like the capital city of Madrid.

But with multiple wildfires raging amid a particularly hot and dry summer , the rare experience of observing a total solar eclipse may be disrupted by evacuations and widespread smoke.

What are the fire conditions leading up to the eclipse?

While Spain is used to wildfires, record-breaking heat in June created a tinderbox in Western Europe, prompting two catastrophic fires: one that broke out on July 24, in the Guadalajara province just northeast of Madrid, devastating over 32,000 hectares (79,000 acres), and another in Ávila, which is in central Spain, that has burned more than 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) since July 22. The Ávila fire is now the “ largest forest fire in our country’s recent history ” according to a statement on Sunday from the minister of ecological transition, Sara Aageson.

Together with numerous other fires across the country, they put Spain on track for its worst wildfire season in over three decades. Over 150,000 hectares (370,600 acres) have burned since January, according to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez —which is six times the area destroyed during the same period last year. Prior to 2025, the worst wildfire year for the country was 1994.

Sánchez said over the weekend that the “scale of the disaster we are living through is very hard to accept.” More than 90,000 tourists and residents have been evacuated or placed under shelter at home orders across central Spain, in parts of Madrid, Toledo, and Ávila. Spanish authorities said at least two people were killed in the eastern provinces of Castellón and Valencia

Sánchez also expressed concern about the weather conditions this week, which brings peak temperatures of nearly 40°C (104°F). Extreme heat makes it difficult to fight existing fires and adds the threat of new ones, which would challenge Spain’s already-stretched resources.

With additional factors such as gusting winds and a lack of recent rainfall, the fire danger conditions in the country have been classified as “very extreme,” according to the European Forest Fires Information System (EFFIS).

And those conditions are not likely to improve ahead of the solar eclipse, according to Jason Nicholls, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.

“There's a heat wave going on right now, which carries into the weekend,” he tells TIME. “It may ease back a little bit, but then tries to come back again as we get into the week of August 10.”

“I don't see a lot of significant rain coming into Spain over the next two weeks, so drought conditions will continue to not improve, or even worsen,” he continues, explaining that “wildfire risk will remain extreme across a whole lot of Spain” in the days leading up to the solar eclipse.

How the wildfires could impact eclipse viewers

The wildfires will likely affect both visibility and air quality for eclipse viewers in the country, Becky Wagner, air quality and climate researcher at the University of Sheffield, tells TIME.

The smoke from the fires contains “particulate matter” consisting of burnt material, she explains.

“Firstly, that can affect visibility because these particles can reflect the sunlight and just create a haze and a sort of a cloud that is really hard to see through,” Wagner says.

But there is also the question of air quality, which could hinder viewers’ ability to safely stand outside and observe the eclipse.

“There's high levels of this smoke, and high levels of the particulate matter within the smoke, which is really harmful to human health, as these particles are really small,” Wagner says, referring to a type of fine air pollutant known as PM2.5, which has been linked to lung cancer and heart disease. “They can be breathed in, and it can affect people's health, particularly vulnerable populations with respiratory and cardiovascular problems.”

Totality occurs when the moon passes exactly between the sun and the Earth, blocking out the daylight and casting impacted areas into complete darkness for about three minutes. While the experience of totality is brief, breathing in wildfire smoke can make people sick “right away,” leading to coughing and headaches, among other symptoms, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

And many eclipse-chasers will seek to observe the phenomenon beyond the moments of totality. Observation often begins as soon as the moon is visible in front of the sun, and lasts until it has completely passed by, meaning that the complete experience of a solar eclipse can span some two to three hours.

But it’s hard to predict how current conditions might impact the air quality in mid-August, Wagner says, especially as wildfires can often create their own mini weather conditions .

Particles “can last in the atmosphere for days to weeks, and they can be transported a really long distance, depending on sort of wind direction and wind speed,” Wagner says.

Aside from Spain’s progress in quelling the fires this week, there are still active fires in France to consider, since the particulate matter could continue drifting across large portions of its neighboring nation. Wagner po...

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