Those who live in the highlands north of Mondego or in Castelo Branco should prepare for a white Saturday: as has been happening since mid-week in Trás-os-Montes and Serra da Estrela, snowfall and accumulation are expected in ten districts.
The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) updated its weather forecasts this Friday morning and worsened the warnings it had already issued. In Braga, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real there is an orange warning from 10pm this Friday, but between midnight and 9am on Saturday it turns red. This means that it can snow in places with an altitude of 600 meters and that, from 800 meters onwards, a layer with 20 centimeters of snow can form.
These conditions can make roads more slippery or even impassable, reminds Civil Protection, advising motorists to practice defensive driving, not to forget tire chains, to top up the fuel tank and, just in case , to have food and medicine in the glove box. However, the best thing, says the authority, is to avoid walking on snowy roads.
In the districts of Castelo Branco and Guarda, a yellow warning from IPMA is already in force regarding snow, meaning that it can fall above 800 or 1000 meters in altitude and that it can accumulate up to 50 centimeters from 1600 meters. The same warning will apply to Bragança and Viseu from this Friday night and will only be lifted at 9am on Sunday, election day. For the districts of Porto, Aveiro and Coimbra the warning is yellow, therefore, snow is expected to fall above 800 meters, but the accumulation is around 10 centimeters above 1000 meters.
Residents of some of these areas will also have to be careful against the wind, which can be particularly intense between noon and 6pm on Saturday on the coast and highlands.
If the snow affects the North and Center, the sea disturbance affects the entire coastal territory equally. In Aveiro, Beja, Coimbra, Faro, Leiria, Lisbon and Setúbal this Friday it is recommended to keep a certain distance from the sea, but the situation worsens (with a red warning) from 6pm on Saturday and only calms down at 6am of Sunday. During this period, waves of seven to eight meters are expected, but they can reach 14 meters. After that, an orange warning will remain in place until almost the end of the day – and the situation should only stabilize on Monday morning.
In Viana do Castelo, Porto and Braga, an orange warning for sea disturbances is in force until late Sunday afternoon, with waves ranging between 5 and 11 meters. And the same will happen on the North coast of Madeira and in Porto Santo from mid-afternoon on Saturday until Sunday morning.
In the alert launched this Friday afternoon, Civil Protection asks the population to be “specially careful” when passing near trees, as branches may fall, and to avoid “riverside areas historically more vulnerable to coastal overtopping”. Walks by the sea and water sports are also discouraged, as is parking your car near beaches or the coast.
Weather and climate are different concepts. The weather forecast for these days corresponds to the instantaneous state of the atmosphere in Portugal, defined through meteorological variables such as temperature, precipitation, humidity, or wind speed. Climate consists of patterns recorded over several years. See here more about how day-to-day weather events may (or may not) reflect climate change and how these changes are intensifying extreme weather phenomena.