Twenty-three municipalities in the districts of Faro, Castelo Branco, Guarda, Portalegre and Santarém present a maximum danger of rural fire today, according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
IPMA also placed more than 70 municipalities in the districts of Faro, Beja, Santarém, Portalegre, Castelo Branco, Leiria, Lisbon, Coimbra, Viseu, Guarda, Vila Real and Bragança in very high danger.
Other municipalities in all districts of the continent, except Viana do Castelo, are in high fire danger today.
Given the weather conditions, the fire danger will remain high until at least Friday.
This risk, determined by the IPMA, has five levels, ranging from low to maximum and the calculations are obtained from the air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and amount of precipitation in the last 24 hours.
Since the beginning of the year, the 4,520 fire incidents have affected 9,823 hectares of rural areas.
The IPMA forecasts for today on the mainland generally clear skies, weak to moderate northwest wind, blowing sometimes strong on the west coast south of Cape Carvoeiro and in the highlands from the afternoon, and rising temperatures, especially the maximum inland.
Minimum temperatures will range between 11 degrees Celsius (in Braga) and 22 (in Faro) and maximum temperatures between 24 (in Aveiro) and 38 (in Évora and Castelo Branco).
