New Year’s Day temperatures will hit zero in the early hours in some parts of Portugal with the Institute of Sea and Atmosphere predicting some freezing minimum temperatures until Friday.
The yellow warning stays in force for much of mainland Portugal but the temperatures will start to rise from Saturday.
"We will have minimum temperatures close to 0°C on the coast and below 0°C in the interior of the country until January 2nd, so prepare for a cold New Year's Eve night," said the agency meteorologist Maria João Frada.
The Algarve low tonight will be between 6°C and 8°C with clear skies, ideal firework viewing conditions.
For the next two days, Frada reckons that "the weather will continue in a similar manner " to the few last days, with little cloud, light winds and low minimum temperatures between -1 and +3°C (between -4 and zero in the interior regions) and maximum temperatures of between 10°C and 15°C on the coast and between 4°C and 8°C in the interior.
The Institute’s yellow warning lasts until 07.00hrs on Thursday yellow warnings due to continuing low temperature.
However, "it is expected that as of January 3, a warm air mass will arrive slowly from the north and temperatures will rise slightly in coastal areas," said Frada, anticipating that "on Sunday we will already feel a small rise in minimum temperature throughout the country."
The place to be is Madeira which is not hampered by the near-freezing temperatures of recent days. The end of the year sky "will present periods of heavy cloud cover and the minimum temperature will vary between 13°C and 15°C and the maximum between 18°C and 20°C with a weak to moderate wind."
