March rain eased extreme drought situation in some areas

After a good amount of heavy rain thoughout March, the end of the month saw mainland Portugal registering an improvement in the meteorological drought situation throughout the country, with regions in extreme drought moving to a slightly better ‘severe drought’ level.

According to the IPMA, at the end of March, a large part of the territory is in the moderate drought class, while part of the North interior and South coast have severe drought.

The end of month report by the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) shows 81.7% of mainland Portugal was in moderate drought, 15.9% in severe drought and 2.4% in mild drought, according to the drought meteorological index (PDSI).
These figures contrast with the situation at the end of February, when more than 60% of mainland Portugal was in extreme drought and 29.3% in severe drought.

The institute classifies the meteorological drought index into nine classes, which varies between “extreme rain” and “extreme drought”. According to the IPMA, there are four types of drought: meteorological, agricultural, hydrological and socio-economic. Meteorological drought is directly linked to rainfall deficit, when rainfall is below normal.

In addition to the drought index, the IPMA Climatological Bulletin indicates that the month of March was classified as normal in terms of air temperature and rainy in terms of precipitation.

According to the IPMA, March was the 6th wettest month since 2000, with the average amount of precipitation (102.5 mm), higher than the normal March levels for 1971-2000.

During the month of March, according to the report, there was rain on most days, with emphasis on the 3rd and 9th to 12th in the North and Center regions and the period from 20th to 24th in the Central and South. The institute points out that in some places in the South region, the total for March is about three times the average value.

The IPMA explains that at the end of March there was an increase in water in the soil in almost the entire territory, being more significant in the South region.

“In the Northeast region of Trás-os-Montes and Beira Alta, the recovery was not significant and values ??below 20% remain, with some places in these regions reaching the point of permanent wilting”, states the report.

As for temperatures, the average minimum air temperature (7.43 degrees Celsius) was higher than normal for March,  and the average maximum temperature (16.32 degrees) was lower than normal.