Eight districts in mainland Portugal are under a yellow warning due to the heat, the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) reported today.
In a statement, IPMA said that the districts of Porto, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Lisbon, Leiria, Aveiro, Coimbra and Braga are on alert due to the “persistence of high maximum temperature values”.
The yellow warning will be in force at least until 18pm today.
The yellow warning, the least serious on a scale of three, is issued whenever there is a risk situation for certain activities depending on the weather situation.
The IPMA predicts that, especially the North and Center regions, will remain under “extremely high” meteorological severity until Wednesday, with the danger of rural fires from high to maximum.
“The meteorological severity will remain extremely high” on “the 17th and 18th, in a large part of the territory, especially in the North and Center regions, where the PIR [danger of rural fires] will continue to be in the highest danger classes: high, very high or maximum”, said the IPMA, in a note published on its website.
The statement, valid until 18:11 today, states that the meteorological fire danger index calculated daily by the IPMA, which reflects the meteorological severity in the spread of rural fires, “has shown extreme values, proving the adversity of the current meteorological conditions”.
“In addition, the dryness index of dead fuels is very high, exceeding the average value for this time of year in a large part of the territory”, pointed out the IPMA, informing that the danger of rural fires was, in all municipalities on the mainland, “in the three highest danger classes” and “with 70% of municipalities in the very high and maximum classes” on Monday.
The mainland territory has been, since Saturday, “under the influence of an easterly flow, which intensified” on Monday and which “will remain intense” today, “in the North and Center regions”.
“Relative humidity values are extraordinarily low, with values of 10% or lower even in places close to the coast, such as in the regions of Aveiro, Porto or Viana do Castelo”, revealed the IPMA.
For today, the institute predicts “a rotation of the wind to the south quadrant, blowing weak or moderate, sometimes with gusts of around 60 km/h, with very low values of relative humidity continuing to be predicted in a large part of the territory”.
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