The Met Office’s latest bulletin indicates that thanks to last month, any sign of a meteorological drought in the northwest of the country has now disappeared.
According to the bulletin, on 30 September 85 percent of national territory was in a situation of drought; 24 percent was in light drought; 29 percent was in moderate drought, and 32 percent was in severe drought.
The Met Office’s analysis showed that the drought index - which takes into account rain levels, air temperature and water holding capacity in the soil – revealed that the first signs of drought which were noted in March this year became worse at the end of July and stretched on into August.
Thanks to last month’s weather however, the dry and parched conditions have been relieved in many parts of the country and have even ended in the northwest.
Data from the bulletin shows that average temperatures – maximum, minimum and average – were lower than normal, and in the case of minimum temperatures, were the lowest of the past 39 years.
Average rainfall was also higher than normal last month, which lead to the IPMA classifying September 2015 as a rainy month.
Of the 60 water basins monitored, seven were above eight percent full and 12 were below 40 percent capacity.