On the 31st of January, 20% of the country was in meteorological drought, while at the end of December, this percentage was higher, 38%, covering part of the central zone and the south of mainland Portugal.

At the end of last month, the southern part of the district of Setúbal and the districts of Beja and Faro remained in meteorological drought, although with a lower intensity than in December. Only the eastern Algarve region remained in the moderate drought class.

According to the IPMA, at the end of January, there was a decrease in the area of mainland Portugal in the moderate drought class, from 16.2% in December to 2% in January and also a decrease in the weak drought classes of 21 .4% to 18.3%, moderate rain from 19.5% to 8.2% and severe rain from 0.5% to 0.3%.

At the end of last month, 36.6% of the territory was in the moderate rain class and 34.6% in normal.

The institute classifies the meteorological drought index into nine classes, which varies between "extreme rain" and "extreme drought".

On February 12, the Barlavento basin continued to have the smallest amount of water, just 10.9%, when the average is 75.7%.

However, there was an improvement compared to January when it was 9.4%.

Data from the IPMA Climatological Bulletin also indicate that last month was classified as extremely hot in relation to air temperature and rainy in relation to rainfall.

The month of January 2024 in mainland Portugal was the 3rd hottest since 1931 and the hottest in the last 58 years.

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