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Portugal recorded its hottest May since 1931, with severe drought now affecting the majority of the country, the national meteorological office said on Thursday.
“It was the hottest May in 92 years,” the Portuguese Sea and Atmosphere Institute (IPMA) said in its latest monthly climate bulletin.
The average top air temperature was 25.87 degrees Celsius (78.57 degrees Fahrenheit), “the highest since 1931”, it said.
Rainfall in May was “much lower than normal”, amounting to just 13 percent of the average for May recorded between 1977 and 2000, the reference period.
As a result, there had been a “very significant spread of severe drought”, which now affected 97 percent of the country, the IPMA said.
A further 1.4 percent of the country is suffering “extreme drought”.
Scientists say repeated droughts are a sign of climate change.
They are expected to become even more frequent, more prolonged and more intense in the future.