According to data from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA), the average value of the maximum air temperature was 17.89°C and was also the highest since 1931, with an anomaly of +3.51°C.
The average value of the minimum air temperature was 6.96°C, also higher than normal (+1.39°C), being the tenth highest value since 1931 and the second highest since 2000 (the highest was in 2008).
During the month of February, the IPMA points out that in the national territory the maximum daily temperature was “always above the average monthly value”, with emphasis on the periods from 02 to 03 and from 21 to 24, with daily average values above 20°C;
The average daily temperature was also always above the monthly average, except on the 18th, while the minimum daily temperature was above the monthly average on the first 17 days of the month and on 29 February
On the 23rd and 24th, the highest values of the maximum air temperature for the month of February were exceeded in about 40 percent of the meteorological stations of the IPMA network.
February 2020 was the fifth driest month since 1931 (the driest was in 2012), since the average amount of precipitation in February was 16.6mm, corresponding only to 17 percent of the normal value (1971-2000, with 100mm).
In terms of spatial distribution, precipitation values were lower than normal across the territory, with most regions being 25 percent lower than normal.
At the end of February, compared to the end of January, there was a significant decrease in the values of percentage of water in the soil throughout the territory, with emphasis on some places in the regions of Baixo Alentejo and the Algarve, with lower values (20 percent).
According to the PDSI index (drought severity index), in late February the area and the intensity of the meteorological drought increased in the regions south of the Tagus, with emphasis on the regions of Alentejo and Algarve in the classes of severe and extreme drought.
In the northern regions of the Tagus, the area of rain classes decreased significantly.