Beja and Faro are on orange alert between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. this Friday due to bad weather, which will affect the central and southern regions with showers, sometimes heavy, thunderstorms and hail, indicated the IPMA.
“It has the potential to happen again and like yesterday. [quinta-feira] They can cause rapid flooding, but they are not comparable to what happened in Spain. It is a more benign situation, but they are still floods and can have negative impacts, causing some damage,” IPMA meteorologist Maria João Frada told the Lusa agency.
Beja and Faro return to the yellow warning between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Friday, according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA).
“However, it is likely to return to orange. The depression remains practically stationary until Saturday and the wind component is from the southeast in these regions and everything comes from the sea. Extreme wind phenomena may also occur,” he said.
The IPMA also issued a yellow warning for heavy rains for Évora (until 3 p.m. this Friday), Castelo Branco (between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. this Friday) and Portalegre (between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.).
According to Maria João Frada, heavy showers are also expected for Setúbal and Lisbon, but with less intensity.
Setúbal and Lisbon are under a yellow warning from 3:00 p.m. this Friday until 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, and locally intense rains are expected, which may occasionally occur in the form of hail accompanied by thunderstorms.
“Lisbon and Setúbal may have abundant rainfall, but there is some uncertainty in the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall. There are no certainties, it is not mathematics,” he stated.
The IPMA warning for “locally heavy rain, which may occasionally occur in the form of hail accompanied by thunderstorms” refers in particular to the central and southern regions of mainland Portugal, in force until Sunday morning, and is due to “a cold depression centered north of Madeira.”
“In Madeira we also have an alert situation. We have a yellow warning at the moment and as the depression moves southwest it approaches Madeira with tropical air masses and there is also the possibility of severity, so an orange warning has been issued for the island between 9 p.m. today and 9 am on Saturday.” said María João Frada.
The IPMA also detailed that “in situations of instability there is variability in the spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation, ultimately determined by local scale factors, not predicted by numerical models,” and added that “monitoring is carried out based on radar and weather satellite data and Electrical discharge detectors are essential.”
The yellow warning, the least serious on a scale of three, is issued by the IPMA whenever there is a risk situation for certain activities depending on the weather situation, while the orange warning, the second most serious, is issued whenever there is a moderate to high risk meteorological situation.
Based on IPMA forecasts, Civil Protection issued a notice to the population according to which it is expected “higher gravity potential” in the lower Alentejo and Algarve.
Given the forecasts, the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority warned the possibility of flooding in urban areas, floods caused by the overflowing of rivers and streams and landslides.
There are also the possibility of contamination of drinking water due to “inert materials resulting from rural fires.”
The dragging of loose objects onto the roads, or the detachment of mobile or poorly fixed structures, due to strong wind can “cause accidents with vehicles in circulation” and with pedestrians on public roads, the Authority said in a statement.
On Thursday, flooding occurred in the municipalities of Albufeira and Olhão, in the district of Faro, due to heavy rains.
Source: Observadora
