Drought situation in Portugal “slashed by half in September”

Areas of drought in mainland Portugal reduced by half in September compared to the month before – but this is essentially meaningless for the south of the country. Says the latest ‘climate bulletin’, the regions of the north and centre are no longer in any kind of situation of drought, while the districts of Setúbal, Évora, Beja and Faro (meaning the Algarve) “have various areas of severe drought”, albeit no region is any longer in ‘extreme drought’, as had been the case in August. With more rain forecast for the coming week, hopes are that the picture continues to improve, and that the south of the country gets a share of the rain so desperately needed to refill depleted aquifers.