Sixteen of mainland Portugal’s 18 districts are now under a red weather warning, the most serious, due to hot weather, with more than a hundred municipalities at maximum risk of rural fire, according to the IPMA.

The districts of Braga, Vila Real, Bragança, Guarda, Viseu, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra, Castelo Branco, Leiria, Santarém, Lisbon, Portalegre, Setúbal, Évora and Beja will be under red notice until 00:00 on Thursday due to the persistence of extremely high maximum temperatures.

According to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), the red warning corresponds to “a meteorological situation of extreme risk”.

The districts of Viana do Castelo and Faro escape the red, but are under orange and yellow warnings, respectively, until 18:00 on Thursday, also because of the persistence of high values ​​of the maximum temperature.

Almost all municipalities in the 18 districts of mainland Portugal present a maximum or very high risk of rural fire.

Temperatures up to 46 degrees

According to the IPMA, since July 6, very high values ​​of maximum and minimum air temperature have been recorded in mainland Portugal and on Tuesday temperatures above 40°C were observed in most of the territory, especially in the northern and central regions, a situation that will be repeated today.

"In this way, it is expected that the highest values ​​of air temperature may occur on the 13th or 14th in some places, especially in the Alentejo and Vale do Tejo, where values ​​of the order of 46°C can be recorded, and in the northeast of Trás-os-Montes, with values ​​between 40 and 44°C. Tropical nights persist (minimum temperature above 20°C) in most of the country, at least until the night of the 14th to the 15th".