The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) issued a statement on Monday warning that “meteorological severity will continue to be extremely high” next Tuesday and Wednesday. Therefore, the The risk of rural fires will remain very highmainly in the North and Central regions.
According to IPMA, the climate will remain hot and dry over the next two days, and relative humidity values will be “extraordinarily low, “Values of 10% or less were recorded even in places close to the coast, such as in the regions of Aveiro, Porto or Viana do Castelo.”
Mainland Portugal is “under the influence of an easterly flow” The storm intensified on Monday, IPMA explains. The wind is therefore expected to continue blowing from the east on Tuesday. In the Porto district, for example, these gusts can reach 30 kilometres per hour.
On Wednesday, “the wind is expected to turn south, blowing weakly to moderately, sometimes with gusts of around 60 km/h.” Despite the change in wind direction, “relative humidity levels are still expected to be very low in much of the territory.”
The IPMA also notes that the “daily calculated meteorological fire danger index, which reflects the meteorological severity in the spread of rural fires” has shown “extreme values”, which demonstrates “the adverse nature of current meteorological conditions”.
In addition, the IPMA points out that “the dryness index of dead fuels is very high, exceeding the average value for this season in much of the territory.”
It is not surprising, therefore, that the risk of rural fires has been placed, in all the municipalities of the peninsular territory, “in the three highest classes of danger, High, Very High and Maximum, with 70% of the municipalities in the Very High and Maximum classes.”
Rural fire danger for this Tuesday
Given the expected worsening of the risk of fire due to the heat, the IPMA had already issued a yellow warning for Monday and Tuesday for the districts of Porto, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Lisbon, Leiria, Aveiro, Coimbra and Braga.
The yellow warning, the least serious on a scale of three, is issued when there is a risk situation for certain activities depending on the weather conditions.
Source: Observadora
