Portugal is set for a New Year heatwave thanks to tropical winds coming in from Africa.
This is the ‘good news’ for a holiday otherwise beset by restrictions and an uncharacteristic dearth of sanctioned revelry.
While fireworks displays, public events and parties are at an all-time low, temperatures will be making up for it.
Alfredo Rocha, a professor in meteorology and the climate at the department of physics at the University of Aveiro, tells Expresso that cities like Braga and Aveiro are likely to be hottest (maximums expected of 22ºC), followed by Porto (21ºC).
Other towns and cities will also be ‘basking’ – due to an anticyclone in the Azores that is powering warm winds from the south.
“These are tropical winds are always warm, even when they come off the ocean”, Alfredo Rocha explains – stressing the country appears to be in store for the kind of weather ‘unknown in living memory’ at this time of year.
No rain is forecast, though the nights will see temperatures fall considerably, and frosts could still form in some parts of the interior (north and centre).
The only places unlikely to enjoy as much warmth as the rest of the mainland are those in high altitudes, like areas around Guarda and Vila Real.
As for ‘official predictions’ by IPMA, they are as follows (first numbers being lowest nighttime temperatures):
Aveiro: 12º | 22º
Beja: 7º | 20º
Braga: 8º | 22º
Castelo Branco: 6º | 17º
Coimbra: 10º | 21º
Évora: 7º | 20º
Faro: 11º | 20º
Guarda: 5º | 15º
Leiria: 11º | 20º
Lisboa: 10º | 19º
Portalegre: 9º | 17º
Porto: 10º | 21º
Santarém: 7º | 21º
Setúbal: 9º | 20º
Viana do Castelo: 10º | 20º
Vila Real: 4º | 13º
Viseu: 6º | 18º
