Temperatures in 2009 ‘above normal’
6/3/2010

The year of 2009 will be remembered by climate experts as having been a year of above-average temperatures, as has been the case every year for the past 16 years with the exception of 2008.

For the past 16 years monthly maximum temperatures have exceeded the base average, which is calculated on global figures from the years 1971-2000, while minimum temperatures have also remained slightly above the norm.

This is with the exception of 2008, when both the maximum and minimum monthly temperatures registered below the 1971-2000 standard average.

Furthermore, last year seven official heatwaves were registered; two in spring, three in summer, and two in autumn.

Meanwhile rain quantities in 2009 kept closer to the standard, falling just below average quantities registered from the 1971-2000 comparative. This resulted in 2009, in terms of rain, being classified as a normal to dry year across the whole of mainland Portugal and the third consecutive year when rain levels fell below average.

By month, only in January, June, November and December did precipitation fall in quantities greater than the 1971-2000 average. In fact spring 2009 was confirmed as the driest since 1931.

Edition: 1051

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