The Algarve and the parts of Alentejo that were still in a situation of meteorological drought no longer were, after a month of March that «was normal in terms of air temperature and very rainy in terms of precipitation», he announced this Monday the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), in its climatological bulletin for last month.
This means that there are no longer any places in mainland Portugal in a drought situation, with much of Baixo Alentejo and the most windward area of the Algarve having passed into a situation of light rain – the remaining territory of both regions has a normal rate. , which is between light rain and light drought.
As for precipitation, the IPMA reveals that the monthly total was 177.8 millimeters (mm), a value “almost three times the average value 1981-2010, being the 16th rainiest March since 1931 and the 4th since 2000. During the month it registered There is intense rainfall, sometimes heavy, in periods 1 to 3 in the North and Central coast and on days 7 and 8 and 26 to 30 throughout the territory».
Like Sul Informação I had already noticed, there were very significant volumes of rainfall in the Algarve, in March, namely in Fóia, in Monchique, Loulé, Albufeira, Carvoeiro, Olhão, Fontes de Estômbar and Aeroporto de Faro.
A lot of rain was also reflected in the levels of the Algarve dams, although it is still too early to let our guard down when it comes to saving water.
Even so, it was in the Algarve, in Vila Real de Santo António, the place in the country where the lowest rainfall was recorded in March (78.7 mm).
In terms of air temperature, March was a normal month in Portugal, but it once again broke records globally, as it was considered «the hottest ever recorded on the Globe, with an average temperature of 14.14°C, 0.73 °C above the 1991-2020 average value. The month is estimated to have been about 1.68°C warmer than the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900. This is the tenth hottest consecutive month ever recorded for the respective month of the year».
2023 too It was the hottest year on record, at a global level.
Looking at the national reality, «the average value of the average air temperature, 12.43 °C, was very close to the normal value for 1981-2010 (+0.01 °C). The average value of the maximum air temperature, 17.23 °C, was -0.34 °C lower than normal, being the 11th lowest since 2000. The average value of the minimum air temperature, 7.63 °C, was 0.36 °C above normal , being the 4th highest since 2000 (highest: 2001, 2003 and 2006)».
The IPMA highlights, on the one hand, «the low temperature values at the beginning of the month (1 to 9) and at the end of the month (25 to 31)» and, on the other, «the hot period between the 15th and 24th of March with occurrence of a heat wave in some places in the interior north and center of the territory».
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