“For the next few days, we will have the passage of weak frontal waves dissipating over mainland Portugal, which will give rise to cloudiness and precipitation,” she said.
According to the meteorologist from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA), strong winds are expected, with gusts of up to 70 kilometres per hour on the west coast, highlands, and the Algarve’s leeward coast.
“Today will be the windiest day, then it improves on Wednesday and returns on Thursday with the same intensity. The temperature drop today will be between 3 and 6/7 degrees in some areas, which, combined with the wind, gives a greater feeling of cold,” she said.
Maximum temperatures across most of the mainland will range between 22 and 25/26 degrees Celsius, possibly reaching 30 degrees in some areas of Alentejo, Tagus Valley and Douro Valley, and will be lower on the western coastal strip, between 18 and 20/23 degrees.
As for minimum temperatures, they will range from 11/12 to 15 degrees, from 17 to 20 on the coast, and from 8 to 10 degrees in the highlands.
According to Maria João Frada, temperatures will rise on Wednesday [3 May] and fall again on Thursday [4 May], again with increased wind.
“This has to do with the position of the Azores anticyclone, which has descended in altitude, is south-southwest of the Azores, and there are depressions in the North Atlantic, and associated with these depressions, which are quite far from the mainland, are the frontal waves that cross the continent and which are of weak activity,” she said.
The meteorologist explained that this is due to the jet stream, which is at very high levels of the atmosphere.
“The jet stream is a zone, a tubular band where there are maximum winds in the upper atmosphere, and the jet stream oscillates in altitude depending on the seasons. In summer, it is further north, and in winter, it decreases. The jet is further south and gives rise to undulations,” she said.
According to the IPMA meteorologist, this situation is normal for June.
