Higher than usual temperatures and little rain, much less than normal, in both the Algarve and Baixo Alentejo, led to an increase in the area of mainland Portugal in a weak drought situation, according to the November Climatological Bulletin of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
At the end of last month, the percentage of the territory in a drought situation was 19,4%, while on October 30th it was 12,8%.
In practice, this means that the entire Algarve territory is once again in drought and Baixo Alentejo (Beja district) is almost entirely in the same situation. The Setúbal district also saw an increase in the area in drought.
This reality contrasted with that of other regions of the country, since in the north coast of Portugal the situation was even reversed, with an increase in the area with severe rain.
«In terms of spatial distribution, precipitation values were higher than the normal value in the Northwest region of the territory, especially in Minho and Douro Litoral, which recorded precipitation totals 1.5 to 2 times the average value», the bulletin reads.
«In the remaining regions it was generally lower than normal, with emphasis on the districts of Setúbal, Beja and Faro with percentage values lower than 50% in relation to normal, even being lower than 25% in the Eastern Algarve».
IPMA also revealed that there was an increase in the percentage of water in the soil in the North, Center and Alto Alentejo regions, «with values above 80%», but that in the Baixo Alentejo and Algarve regions «there are some places with values between 20 and 40%».
In this way, and if we look at Mainland Portugal, as a whole the month of November «was classified as very hot in relation to air temperature and normal in relation to precipitation», according to IPMA.
And if in Portugal, it was the 9th hottest November in the last 93 years (hottest in 1981) and the 2nd hottest since 2000, globally “it was the hottest ever recorded”.
As far as our country is concerned, «during the month there was some variability in air temperature values (minimum, average and maximum)», with the IPMA highlighting «the period from the 9th to the 20th of November and the 28th and 29, with temperature values always higher than the monthly average, especially the minimum air temperature, where days 11 to 13 and 29 stand out with deviations greater than 5° C».
The highest maximum temperature was recorded in Castro Marim, on November 15th, and stood at 26,2ºC.
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