On Friday, January 5th, a cold front will bring rain, heavy in the north and central regions, which will reach the Algarve during the morning. Anywhere over 600 metres above sea level can expect snow.
These are conditions that can bring hail and thunderstorms, as well as snow on high ground. The wind will be a moderate to strong southwesterly, gusting to 90 kmph in mountainous areas.
After this front passes, the wind will turn to the west, becoming strong along the coast with gusts up to 80 kmph. From Friday afternoon, waves as high as 3.5 metres are expected from the north of the country to Cape St Vincent with the Algarve's coastline expecting waves of up to 1.5 metres.
These weather conditions are expected to last until Saturday, with showers frequent along the coast. The heaviest rain will fall before dawn on Friday, with snow highly likely in Guarda, Viseu and Vila Real. The IPMA weather service would not be drawn on whether there will be snow on Monchique this year.
The Saturday night-time temperature is expected to fall below 0ºC in the northern and central highland areas, with a maximum daytime temperature below 14ºC in Lisbon and Faro.
The Friday temperature in the Algarve will peak at 18ºC but Saturday’s high will only reach a chilly 13ºC after a night when the thermometer will drop to 6 or 7ºC.
In 2017, snow fell in the Algarve on January 19th in many council areas, though not in any great quantity, with real snowfalls confined to the frozen central and northern regions.
Before that, the last snowflakes recorded in the Algarve were in February 2016 at Alto da Fóia, Monchique. The time before that also was on Monchique in 2010 and in January 2006, snow fell across the Algarve with Loulé, São Brás de Alportel, Olhão and Tavira affected.
