Figures published this week confirmed that last month was the hottest September in Portugal since records began.
The hot weather was expected to stretch into the first weeks of October, with highs forecast to remain above 30 degrees Celsius for large parts of the country, at least this week.
The recent heat has also seen the Portuguese Met Office issue a series of advisories, including maximum fire alerts for parts of the interior where hot and windy conditions are set to persist for the coming days.
The Portuguese Met Office explained this week in its detailed report on the weather registries for September, that last month had been “the hottest since 1931”, the year when records started.
The average maximum temperature was set at 30.21 degrees Celsius, which is almost four degrees up from what would normally be expected for September.
The average temperature across Portugal was an astonishing 36 degrees Celsius on 1 September, with a series of heatwaves being recorded by weather stations.
Average temperatures were set at 23.1 degrees for September.
Hot weather is usually also associated with dry weather in Portugal, with September being the second driest since records began.
Currently, more than 91 percent of the country is considered to be in a state of “weak” drought, while 6.8 percent is currently experiencing moderate drought levels.
Meanwhile, in its extended forecast for October, the Portuguese Met Office has said current models are pointing to warmer-than-normal temperatures, at least until 22 October.
The heat has also seemingly taken a toll on people’s health, with the persistent hot weather since August seeing a spike in fatalities.
Sunday 5 August marked the highest death rate in recent summers, with 460 deaths having been registered in just 24 hours, according to provisional figures.
A third of those deaths occurred within the greater Lisbon region.
Comparatively, on 8 August 2003 - the year in which Portugal was struck by a similar heatwave - 464 deaths were recorded, and on 8 July 2013, 498 deaths occurred.
This past August’s death rate was the second highest value recorded in almost two decades, since the summer of 2009, and is well above the average for the standard summer days, of 260 daily deaths.
The deadliest summer’s day of the past decade was during the heatwave of 2013, when 498 people died in one day.