The month of February was considered the hottest in the last 93 years in mainland Portugal, according to the climatological bulletin of the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), which indicates a worsening drought in the eastern Algarve.
According to the weather report available today on the IPMA website, February is classified as extremely hot in terms of air temperature and rainy in terms of precipitation.
It was the warmest February since 1931, with an average air temperature of 12.47 degrees Celsius, 2.55 degrees Celsius higher than normal.
The average maximum air temperature was the 3rd highest since 1931 and the average minimum temperature was the 5th highest since 1931 and the 2nd highest since 2000.
At the beginning of March, the Copernicus Climate Change Service revealed that February was the hottest month globally since records began.
The global average surface air temperature in February was 13.54°C, according to the Bonn, Germany-based institution in its monthly bulletin.
Since June 2023, every month has broken the all-time monthly temperature record.
The IPMA’s Climate Bulletin also states that in February there was an increase in the percentage of water in the soil, especially in the North and Center.
On the last day of February, 14% of the territory was in meteorological drought, 14% in weak drought and 0.2% in moderate drought. In the normal class was 43.7%, while 32% had light rain and 10.1% had moderate rain.
The institute classifies the meteorological drought index into nine classes, ranging from “extreme rainfall” to “extreme drought”.
According to the IPMA, there are four types of drought: meteorological, agricultural, hydrological and socio-economic.
