In the 12-hour period, between 9pm on 20 July and 9am on 21 July, the number of electrical discharges that hit the ground “was over 2,600”, indicated the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA), revealing that the total number of discharges (sum of intranuval discharges, between clouds and soil cloud) in the territory, registered in the IPMA national network of electrical discharges, “exceeded 13,500”.

On Monday night (20 July) and early morning on 21 July, the instability associated with a depression in altitude, centred the southwest of Lisbon and in a slow movement to the northeast, gave rise to strong electrical activity in the central and southern part of mainland Portugal, explained the IPMA. IPMA, in a statement stated that "this event was very visible, not only because it occurred during the night, but also due to the occurrence of a high number of electrical discharges between clouds".

Civil Protection recorded 76 occurrences until early Tuesday morning, many related to the thunderstorm that was felt during Monday night and that caused dozens of ignitions, especially in the districts of Castelo Branco, Santarém, Lisbon and Setúbal.

Speaking to the agency Lusa, a source from the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), said that the central region of the country was the most affected, with 16 fire ignitions recorded in Castelo Branco, indicating that there were still eight in Santarém, five in Lisbon and five others in Setúbal.

"These ignitions were due to the thunderstorm that was felt, and were causing the means to be dispersed throughout the various districts, but fortunately there is only material damage to the forest," Commander Carlos Pereira, from ANEPC, told Lusa.