The municipalities of Portimão, Silves, Loulé, São Brás de Alportel and Tavira, are on maximum risk of fire over the next few days, according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), with temperatures set to reach 38 degrees Celsius.
IPMA also placed more than 30 municipalities in the districts of Faro, Beja, Santarém, Portalegre, Castelo Branco, Viseu and Guarda at very high risk of fire.
More than 90 municipalities in the districts of Faro, Évora, Beja, Portalegre, Lisbon, Santarém, Leiria, Castelo Branco, Guarda, Coimbra, Viseu, Vila Real and Bragança are today at high risk of fire.
The fire risk determined by IPMA has five levels, ranging from reduced to maximum.
Calculations are obtained from air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and amount of precipitation in the last 24 hours.
Due to the warm weather forecast for the coming days, the risk of fire will intensify in some regions of the continent until at least Monday.
According to the institute, as of today, the "intensification of an anticyclone to the west of the continent's territory, which extends in a crest to the Bay of Biscay, and the formation of a valley from North Africa to the interior of the Iberian Peninsula".
In a statement, the IPMA explains that this situation leads to the transport of a mass of dry tropical air, coming from the interior of the Iberian Peninsula.
Therefore, from today and until Saturday, a gradual rise in temperature is expected. On Saturday, the maximum temperature values should vary approximately between 33 and 38 degrees Celsius, with the exception of the western coastal strip where they should be lower and vary between 24 and 30 degrees, and in some places in the interior of Alentejo and the Tagus valley, where of 40 degrees may be reached.
According to IPMA, this episode will be temporary, when on Sunday and Monday, with the entry of sea air, there will be a gradual decrease in the maximum temperature, extending from the coast to the inland areas.
Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/
