The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) have reported that after the recent rains the drought situation has lessened ever so slightly. However, the Algarve still remains at a 'moderate drought' level.
According to data from the National Water Resources Information System (SNIRH), as of February 12th this year, 51% of monitored reservoirs had water availability greater than 80% of the total volume and 15% less than 40%.
On February 12th, the Barlavento basin continued to have the smallest amount of water, just 10.9%, when the average is 75.7%.
However, there was an improvement compared to January when it was 9.4%.
Data from the IPMA Climatological Bulletin also indicate that last month was classified as extremely hot in relation to air temperature and rainy in relation to rainfall.
The month of January 2024 in mainland Portugal was the 3rd hottest since 1931.
On January 31, 20% of the country was in meteorological drought, while at the end of December this percentage was higher, 38%, covering part of the central zone and the south of mainland Portugal, according to the climatological bulletin from the Instituto Português do Mar and the Atmosphere (IPMA).
At the end of last month, the southern part of the district of Setúbal and the districts of Beja and Faro remained in meteorological drought, although less than in December. Only the inland region remained in the 'moderate drought' class.
According to IPMA, at the end of January, there was a decrease in the area of mainland Portugal in the moderate drought class, from 16.2% in December to 2% in January and also a decrease in the weak drought classes of 21 .4% to 18.3%.
At the end of last month, 36.6% of the territory was in the moderate rain class and 34.6% in normal.
The institute classifies the meteorological drought index into nine classes, which varies between “extreme rain” and “extreme drought”.
According to IPMA, there are four types of drought: meteorological, agricultural, hydrological and socioeconomic.
Source IPMA
