Alentejo penalized – drought affected 93.7% of Portugal’s territory at the end of December!
Part of the territory in severe drought has decreased, but it has also received the part in mild drought, with the part of the country in moderate drought growing. By the end of the month, almost 94% of the mainland was under some form of drought – almost 2 percentage points more than at the end of November.
Despite the rain that fell in a few days of December, it was not enough to remove much of the continent’s territory from the meteorological drought situation. In fact, the percentage of Portugal that was under some form of drought at the end of the year was even higher than at the end of November – rising from almost 92% to 93.7% -, with the only good news in this matter being the Decrease of the territory that was in severe drought (down from 12.6% to 8.7%).
The data are contained in the December climatological bulletin of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA), which also shows the maximum temperature extremes reached on New Year’s Eve, which the institution had already partially anticipated this week. Now, the complete document does not allow to allay concerns about the levels of protection that the country has reached.
As previously reported by RC, according to the bulletin, November was the coldest quarter of this century, recording an average air temperature of 11.17 degrees centigrade, with the lowest temperature in November in 2008 (9, 95°C) .
The IPMA needs that mean air temperature values lower than those recorded in the month of November occurred in 20% of the years since 1931.
The document also emphasizes that the average minimum temperature value “was much lower than the normal value”, being the 11th lowest since 1931 and the 4th lowest since 2000.
“During the month there was some variability in the mean air temperature values. However, the daily values of minimum daily air temperature stand out, which are almost lower than the monthly average value. Also noteworthy is the drop in temperature (maximum, average and minimum) from the 22nd onwards, the 28th with the biggest deviations from the normal monthly stand out”, adds that organism.
C / Public and Agroportal
The IPMA also reports that November 2021 was the third driest in 90 years, trailing only 1981 and 1958 in terms of separation criteria.
“The average value of the amount withdrawn in November, 18.9 millimeters, was much lower than the 1971-2000 normal value, corresponding to 17%. During the month it was only verified that it was defined on the 1st to the 3rd and the 20th to the 21st”, indicates the report, noting that, in this period, the last period of the Algarve registered the occurrence of locally strong showers, accompanied by thunder, hail and wind strong.
The same document reveals that at the end of November there was “a significant increase in the area of meteorological drought throughout the territory”, highlighting the increase in the intensity of drought in the southern region, with some locations in the districts of Setúbal, Beja and Faro “in the severe drought class”.
According to the report, more than half of the country (61.6%) is in mild drought, 17.7% in moderate drought and 12.6% in severe drought.