The smoke from the wildfires ravaging Portugal and Spain for several days has reached southern England, confirmed the UK’s Met Office. However, the smoke is unlikely to affect the country’s air quality.
The Met Office explained to The Telegraph that the smoke has spread across the Bay of Biscay, from the Spanish and French coasts to parts of the UK and Ireland.
Craig Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, stated there was a “considerable amount of smoke” moving from the Iberian Peninsula towards the UK, particularly the southwest of England.
“In recent days, we’ve seen the smoke from the fires rise, but it is generally in the atmosphere. This makes the sky hazy and a bit less blue than usual,” he explained, adding that it is unlikely to affect the country’s air quality.
“At this moment, it is not affecting air quality, and we expect normal air quality levels for the next five days,” he stated.
On social media, the Met Office also noted that the “smoke from wildfires in Spain and Portugal, along with Saharan dust, has spread over the UK.”
“Noticed the sky isn’t as blue today? Smoke from wildfires in Spain and Portugal, plus Saharan dust, has drifted over the UK. Expect enhanced sunsets and sunrises in the coming days – deeper reds and oranges thanks to light scattering,” reads the statement.
Noticed the sky isn’t as blue today?
Smoke from wildfires in Spain & Portugal, plus Saharan dust, has drifted over the UK
Expect enhanced sunsets & sunrises in the coming days — deeper reds & oranges thanks to light scattering pic.twitter.com/D7AFXeSCfB
— Met Office (@metoffice) August 16, 2025
Completely unrelated to earlier posts, but wow—look at all the smoke shrouding western Europe this morning!
Portugal is battling seven major wildfires amid a relentless heatwave, with nearly 4,000 firefighters deployed and the EU Civil Protection Mechanism activated for aerial… pic.twitter.com/IH4CqC2bB6
— Mike Adcock (@MikeAdcockWx) August 16, 2025
Portugal has been on alert due to the wildfires since August 2.
On Friday, the national commander of Civil Protection, Mário Silvestre, announced that Portugal activated the European Civil Protection Mechanism, requesting support from four Canadair firefighting planes.
Mário Silvestre explained the activation of the European Civil Protection Mechanism was due to the weather conditions not allowing a window of opportunity to control some fires overnight, contrary to what authorities had anticipated.
On Saturday, the same official indicated that the two Fire Boss aircraft provided by Sweden are expected to arrive in Portugal on Monday due to delivery constraints that were initially scheduled for Sunday.
“Due to constraints in their operation, the information from the Mechanism is that they will only arrive on Monday,” he said.
Os dois aviões Fire Boss cedidos pela Suécia para ajudar no combate aos incêndios rurais só devem chegar a Portugal na segunda-feira, devido a constrangimentos na entrega que estava programada para domingo, informou hoje a Proteção Civil.
Lusa | 19:39 – 16/08/2025
As of 7 PM on Saturday, there were “ten active incidents” across the country, involving “a total of 3,982 personnel, with 1,300 vehicles and 36 aerial resources.”
“The ten incidents of greatest concern are in Trancoso, Sátão, Piódão, Arganil, Candal in Lousã, Pêra do Moço in Guarda, Poiares in Freixo de Espada à Cinta, Santo António in Sabugal, and Nisa, although Nisa is progressing well from a firefighting perspective, Lousada, and Arnoia in Celorico de Basto,” he added.
