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Hurricane Ophelia approaches the Açores

rainstormThe Civil Protection Authority for the Açores are keeping citizens abreast of the impending Hurricane Ophelia as she heads for Santa Maria.

The category 2 hurricane is southwest of the Açores and is moving steadily towards the archipelago.

The president of the Regional Civil Protection Service, Carlos Neves, explains that, given the advanced warning, teams of firemen are on call and ready to help people and protect property as best they can when faced with torrential rain and potentially devastating winds of up to 185 kilometres per hour.

On the mainland, all should be calm over the weekend with temperatures around 30°C across most of the country.

This will change on Monday when rain is forecast despite the eye of the hurricane remaining well to the west of the mainland and expected to continue to head north towards Ireland and Scotland.

"From Monday it seems that there will be a change in the weather, but until then we will continue with temperatures above normal for the season, with maximums at or above 30 degrees," according to the Lusa news agency.

Tomorrow (Saturday) there will be a rise in temperature, with the maximum being above 30 degrees in most of the mainland and on Sunday we will have a rise in the minimum temperature, which in some places may give rise to ‘tropical nights.’

On Monday, there will be a change in weather, with rain and falling temperatures. There will be a southerly wind, a mass of warmer air and unstable conditions that will bring periods of rain. The intensity of the downfall will depend on whether the hurricane heads north, as expected, or veers east.

As for the rest of the week, Tuesday also will have periods of rain or showers, but from Wednesday onwards, it is still too early to say.

The chance of rain in Faro on Monday is 12%, Tuesday - 38% and on Wednesday - 41% with temperatures nudging 30°C.

Açores weather warnings

The eastern and central island groups of the Açores, on Saturday will be on a red warning due to the torrential rain forecast to hit the islands between 06:00 pm and 12:00 pm on Saturday.

The 'Red Warning', the most severe of a scale of four, is identified by the IPMA as an ‘extreme-risk’ weather situation.

The eastern group will be under an orange warning over the same period due to the rain, escalating to a red warning between midnight on Saturday to 06:00 on Sunday morning due to extraordinarily high winds.

São Miguel and Santa Maria are on a yellow warning due to high seas between 12.00 and 06.00 on Sunday with thunderstorms expected between noon and midnight on Saturday.

Webcam

For Açores webcams, see: https://www.visitazores.com/en/webcams

 

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