"Pleasingly warm weather for the time of year," not for much longer as rain is predicted for the Algarve on Tuesday, followed by a steady fall in temperatures, bottoming out with a nighttime low of just 9°C on Saturday night/Sunday morning.
The Algarve is due to escape the worst of a blast of polar air heading south over the next few days, bringing freezing temperatures to high ground in central and northern Portugal and snow predicted for the Serra da Estrela.
The daytime temperatures start their decline from Friday afternoon with the nighttime chill starting from Saturday across almost all of the country, according to the national weather service, the IPMA.
"From Friday, due to the influence of a very intense north current, which will carry polar air, the temperature will go down. This is the information available at the moment," said the IPMA’s Patrícia Gomes, who warned also of strong winds.
But it’s the cold that will be the shock as much of the country has got used to a period of October warmth, hoping against experience that this will continue.
"The minimum temperatures on Saturday may be negative in some places in the interior, but nothing much below 0°C. On the coast it will vary between 8°C and 10°C.
“On Saturday, apart from the Algarve where temperatures are expected to be around 20ºC, the whole territory will have maximum temperatures well below 20ºC. This is almost a certainty," stressed Gomes, adding that some rain will fall and snowflakes are expected on the highest points of mainland Portugal.
"On Saturday there may be some general weakening in the north and central region, and in some places, such as the Estrela and Gerês mountains, we may have the first snowflakes,” said Gomes, who said the Algarve will avoid the worst.
"In the Algarve the maximum won’t fall as much as in the rest of the country, but the minimum drops a little, and is expected to reach 9ºC. It seems that we will have a near-winter feel to the weekend.”
See: http://www.ipma.pt/pt/otempo/prev.localidade.hora/#Faro&Faro
