The month of August 2024 was the hottest globally and the second in Europe, while in mainland Portugal it was the tenth since 1931, reported the IPMA, indicating that the area in meteorological drought increased.
According to the climate bulletin from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), August in Portugal was also the seventh hottest month since 2000.
The IPMA states that in mainland Portugal, the month of August 2024 was classified as very hot in relation to air temperature and very dry in relation to precipitation, being “the 10th hottest August since 1931 and the 7th hottest since 2000 with an average value of the average air temperature, 23.85 degrees Celsius (°C), 1.17 °C above the normal value 1981-2010”.
“The average maximum air temperature, 31.08°C, registered an anomaly of +1.66°C compared to normal. The average minimum air temperature, 16.62°C, was higher than normal, with an anomaly of +0.67°C, being the 6th highest value since 2000”, informs IPMA.
According to the climate bulletin for August, this month saw a relatively long hot period (from August 03 to 21) with maximum air temperature values above the monthly average value, with days 10 and 16 standing out with anomalies of around 6.0 °C and with 15% of meteorological stations having a maximum temperature equal to or greater than 40 °C.
Between August 15 and 21, there was a heat wave, which particularly affected the Alentejo region.
In terms of precipitation, August was the 5th driest month since 1931 and the driest in the last 35 years, with total precipitation corresponding to just 6% of the 1981-2010 average value.
In August, there was no significant rainfall across the entire territory, with no rainfall at all in the entire southern region.
There was an increase in the area of meteorological drought that extended to the entire inland North and Central region.
“South of the Tagus, moderate and severe drought classes predominated, with the districts of Beja (inland) and Faro (leeward) with several locations in the severe drought class. At the end of August, around 82% of the territory was in weak to severe meteorological drought”, concludes the IPMA.
At a global level, IPMA says, “the month of August 2024 was the hottest on record (along with 2023) with an average global temperature of 16.82 °C, 0.71 °C above the 1991-2020 average value.
In Europe, “the average air temperature was 1.57 °C above the 1991-2020 average, making it the second warmest August, after the same month in 2022, the institute says, adding that “air temperatures in Europe were above average in southern and eastern Europe and below average over the northwestern parts of Ireland and the United Kingdom, Iceland, the west coast of Portugal and southern Norway.
The data also shows that August was drier than average across most of continental Europe, including the southern United Kingdom and Ireland, the Alps, the Balkans, northwest Russia and eastern Fennoscandia (or Fino-Scandinavia), with areas in the south and east experiencing drought and forest fires.
It was also wetter than average in Iceland, the northern United Kingdom and Ireland, much of Fennoscandia, the northern coast of continental Europe, as well as western Russia and Turkey.