Temperatures will rise to the high 30s on Sunday as a mass of hot air covers the country.
The air will reach Portugal this weekend, raising daytime temperatures to nearly 40°C in the interior of the Alentejo, and bringing tropical nights across the country.
This is pay-back time for a long, wet, miserable winter and spring with low temperatures and rain still being recorded only a week ago in many areas.
According our friendly meteorologist, Maria João Frada, from the IPMA weather service, Saturday will still be relatively mild but on Sunday the thermometers will rise as the mass of hot air envelopes the nation, putting three to six degrees on the temperature, taking it into the low 30s in the Algarve and high 30s in the interior.
"We will have a mild day on Saturday, especially on the west coast, because of the wind, which in the afternoon will be moderate north-west and sometimes strong, with gusts up to 65 kilometers per hour," said the meteorologist.
"On Sunday and Monday there is a change with the wind going east / northeast ... bringing in a mass of tropical or even modified equatorial air with a general rise in temperature across the whole territory, but felt mostly along the west coast," explained Maria João.
The meteorologist said that temperature rises on Sunday "will rise three to five or six degrees on the west coast, particularly in the Greater Lisbon region and, on Monday, temperatures rise to the high 30s.
"Tropical nights, with minimum temperatures in the 20s, in particular in the Algarve, will also be felt in the interior of the Alentejo, Greater Lisbon and the Tagus Valley."
The Directorate General of Health warned that the heat can kill and that the population must stay hydrated, keep their houses cool, avoid direct exposure to the sun, especially between 11:00 and 17:00, and do no vigorous exercises out of doors.
When outside, the health-meister recommends that people look for cooler places in the shade, wear light clothes, a hat and sunglasses and apply sun-screen or factor 30 or more.
