Get ready for the cold. Temperatures drop today in mainland Portugal
sAccording to the Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), this “gradual decrease” in temperature is due to the passage of cold frontal surfaces that cross the territory from north to south, to which polar air masses are associated, and will be recorded initially in the North and Center regions, extending to the entire continent on Wednesday.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the values of the minimum temperature in most of the territory must be below 5°C, except on the coast (between 5°C and 8°C). Temperatures between -5° C and 0° C are expected in the interior of the North and Center. The maximum temperature values should not exceed 11/14° C, being lower in the interior areas of the North and Center (5° C to 9 °C).
These meteorological conditions will give rise, today, to rain, especially in the North and Center regions, with greater incidence in Minho and Douro Litoral, and to snowfall in the highlands, for which the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection requested population to adopt preventive measures.
In this period of “high thermal discomfort”, the Civil Protection warned of the risks of “poisoning by inhalation of gases, due to ventilatory ventilation in rooms where heaters such as fireplaces and braziers are used”, as well as of fires due to “the misuse of fireplaces and braziers or faults in electrical circuits”.