The month of April 2017 in mainland Portugal was «extremely hot and extremely dry», having even been «the 5th hottest month of April since 1931», revealed today the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA).
“The maximum temperature value was the highest since 1931 and the minimum temperature value was slightly above normal”, adds the IPMA.
Throughout the month (see figure below), there were very high values of the maximum temperature, much higher than the normal values for this month, highlighting the periods from 10th to 12th and 17th to 19th of April.
Regarding the average temperature values, the 18th and 19th were the hottest of the month, with an average temperature of 19.0°C. The mean value of the maximum temperature was highest on day 11, with 28.0°C. In the case of minimum temperature, the highest mean value occurred on day 18, with 12.3°C.
On the 18th, the highest value of the maximum temperature was registered, 32.9°C, in Aljezur. The highest minimum temperature value, 19.1°C, occurred on the 12th in Portalegre.
The IPMA adds that, last month, there were "heat waves, of great duration and extension", between the 2nd and the 24th, in the districts of Bragança, Guarda and Castelo Branco, from the 2nd to the 13th and from the 15th to the 24th , in the remaining regions of the North and Center-North (with the exception of the coastal strip), and in most of the districts of Lisbon, Santarém and Setúbal, as well as from 2 to 13, in the Center-South and Alentejo regions.
“This heat wave, due to its spatial and temporal extension, can be considered the most significant observed this month since 1941”, says the Institute.
Regarding rainfall, the month of April was classified as “extremely dry, being the driest since 1931”. The IPMA indicates that, in about 40% of the stations of the meteorological network, no precipitation was registered until the 29th of April.
According to the meteorological drought index – PDSI, at the end of the month, there was, in relation to the end of March, «a significant increase in the area in a situation of drought, particularly in the North and Center regions, with many places in the moderate to severe meteorological drought classes».
At the end of this month, around 96% of the territory was in a mild to moderate drought and only the Algarve region was not in a drought situation.
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