LISBON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) — Mainland Portugal experienced one of the hottest and driest Augusts in decades, driven by an intense heatwave during the first half of the month, the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) reported Thursday.
According to the August 2025 Climatological Bulletin, the country’s average air temperature reached 24.4 degrees Celsius, 1.49 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 normal, making it the fifth-hottest August since 1931. From July 29 to Aug. 17, temperatures consistently exceeded seasonal norms during what IPMA described as the longest and most intense July-August heatwave on record in northern and central inland regions.
Conditions eased late in the month, with temperatures near or below normal after Aug. 27. But rainfall remained scarce: total precipitation measured just 3 mm, about 20 percent of the 1991-2020 average, ranking the month as the seventh-driest August since 2000.
The report warned of a sharp expansion of meteorological drought, now affecting almost the entire mainland territory, with severe conditions in the northwest, central-southern interior and Lower Alentejo.
Across Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and southwestern France saw the most pronounced heat anomalies, while much of northern Europe experienced below-average temperatures. IPMA noted that drought and heatwaves in southwestern Europe also fueled wildfires in Portugal, Spain and Greece.
