According to meteorologist Jorge Ponte, from IPMA, yellow warnings for precipitation and thunderstorms have already been issued for the north and centre of the country, but “these warnings should be upgraded to orange” for the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Today, the weather is still hot in much of the country, with maximum temperatures of 35 to 40 degrees, particularly in the north and centre of the continent, while the south is expected to see a drop in temperatures.

On Tuesday, the Day of Camões, Portugal and the Portuguese Communities, there will be “an increase in this instability, and it will be a day with more humidity, with falling temperatures, although they will still remain relatively high, especially inland”, and with more frequent showers, which may sometimes be accompanied by thunderstorms.

“I would like to draw your attention to the period between the end of the afternoon and extending throughout the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, with the possibility of more intense thunderstorms, heavy showers, which may sometimes be hail and be accompanied by more intense gusts of wind, particularly on the coast north of Leiria and also in the north and center of the interior”, he highlighted.

According to the meteorologist, the IPMA has already issued yellow warnings for precipitation and thunderstorms for this region, including the districts of Viseu and Vila Real, but “these warnings should be upgraded to orange”.

“We are analyzing this possibility, worsening to an orange storm and possibly extending a little to the districts of Bragança, for example, more towards the evening. It is a situation with a lot of instability; these are always more localized phenomena, it will not occur in this entire area, but there is potential for it to be severe where it occurs”, he stressed.

A decrease in instability is expected for Wednesday, but some showers and thunderstorms may still occur in the northern region, especially on Thursday.

On Thursday and Friday, the weather will improve a little, although precipitation may still occur, with periods of light rain, but no thunderstorms.

On the northern and central coast, there may be some cloudiness and precipitation and the temperature should be a little lower than in recent days.

Over the weekend, especially from Sunday onwards, “the most likely scenario is for the weather to stabilize and the temperature to rise”, he added.

The IPMA has issued a yellow warning for eight districts in the north of mainland Portugal on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the forecast of showers, sometimes heavy, accompanied by thunderstorms and hail, with the possibility of strong gusts of wind.

The districts of Viseu, Porto, Vila Real, Viana do Castelo, Leiria, Aveiro, Coimbra and Braga will be under warning between 6 pm on Tuesday and 3 am on Wednesday.

The IPMA has also issued a yellow warning for the districts of Évora, Beja, Castelo Branco and Portalegre until 9 pm today, due to the hot weather, with persistently high maximum temperatures.

Also, due to the hot weather, the IPMA has issued a yellow warning for Bragança, Guarda and Vila Real, between 12 pm today and 9 pm on Tuesday.