14 of the last 20 years have seen little rain in Portugal – Atualidade
“In the last 14 years we have registered a transition deficit in relation to 1970/2000, a situation in which the mainland was in the highest official meteor drought classes and consequently agricultural and water drought”, said a source from the IPMA in response. to Lusa’s questions.
Regarding the period of drought that the country is going through, with 55% of the mainland in dry several and 45% in extreme drought, the IPMA warns that in some of the more recent meteorological droughts the dry periods last longer and “have a more comprehensive spatial configuration”.
And if, cyclically, the southern region of the continent is the north that registers the longest periods of drought, in recent years more regions have been in higher classes of the drought index, namely the Trás-os-Montes region and also the meteorological coast, explained the source of IPMA
If the hydrological year is considered, which runs from October 1st to September 30th of the following year, the current year, to date, is the second driest ever (since 1931, when data began to be compiled), only exceeded by the hydrological year 2004/2005.
The numbers were only considered between January and July (calendar year) the IPMA notes that the driest year was 2005, followed by 2012, so this is the third driest year since 1931.
According to data from the IPMA’s official page on drought monitoring, updated at the fair, in the last year the country has never had a drought in any region.
In July last year, almost 40% of the territory failed continental and the rest in drought, moderate or severe. The situation worsened in August (22% of the territory) but improved in the following two months. But from then on it got significantly worse, only 8.1% of the territory was then in normal condition, going to 6.3% in November, in other words, getting even worse.
From January of this year, the entire continent entered a drought regime, until today. Since then, extreme drought and several droughts have prevailed, exceptional for March and the drought was more moderately moderate.
According to the IPMA source, dry areas on the continent since the beginning of the hydrological year are a “recurring situation”, especially in the southern region. Incidentally, the already dry weather bail more than a hydrological.
This year, it wants approximately, approximately, the month of March until the region of the normal, or approximately 200%.
According to the source, it has even been recorded monthly throughout the territory during the present hydrological year.
“What happens in a much smaller number compared to what values are considered normal, that is, when it is, the amount of situation that is a small amount of resistance solution”, he added.