August in Portugal was also the seventh warmest month since 2000.

The IPMA states that in mainland Portugal, August 2024 was classified as very hot in terms of air temperature and very dry in terms of precipitation, being “the 10th warmest August since 1931 and the 7th warmest since 2000 with an average air temperature of 23.85 degrees Celsius (°C), 1.17 °C above the normal value for 1981-2010”.

“The average maximum air temperature, 31.08 °C, registered an anomaly of 1.66 °C above normal. The average minimum air temperature, 16.62 °C, was above normal, with an anomaly of + 0.67 °C, the 6th highest value since 2000”, reports IPMA.

According to the climate bulletin for August, this month saw a relatively long hot period (from 3 to 21 August) with maximum air temperatures above the monthly average value, with the 10th and 16th standing out with anomalies of around +6.0 °C and with 15% of the meteorological stations having a maximum temperature equal to or above 40 °C.

A heat wave occurred between 15 and 21 August, 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 average value from 1981 to 2010.

In August, there was no significant rainfall across the entire territory, with no rainfall at all in the southern region.

Drought

There was an increase in the area in meteorological drought, which extended to the entire inland northern and central regions.

“To the south of the Tagus, moderate and severe drought conditions predominated, with the districts of Beja (inland) and Faro (leeward) standing out, with several locations in the severe drought category. At the end of August, around 82% of the territory was in a weak to severe meteorological drought”, concludes the IPMA.

Globally, the IPMA states, “August 2024 was the hottest month on record (along with 2023) with an average global temperature of 16.82 °C, 0.71 °C above the 1991-2020 average.

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 said, adding that “air temperatures in Europe were above average in southern and eastern Europe and below average over northwestern parts of Ireland and the United Kingdom, Iceland, the west coast of Portugal and southern Norway.

The data also show that August was drier than average across most of continental Europe, including the southern United Kingdom and Ireland, the Alps, the Balkans, northwestern 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.