Portugal records heat record for April

Portugal on Thursday recorded a record maximum temperature for an April for at least 78 years, at 36.9 degrees Celsius, according to data released Friday by the national meteorological institute.

< p>In addition to the Mora weather station, located in the center of the country, five other localities in the center or south crossed the “previous record of 36 degrees recorded” on April 20, 1945 in Pinhao (northeast), a Ricardo Deus, climatologist at the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), told AFP.

Portugal and neighboring Spain are experiencing an exceptionally early heat wave this week, caused by a mass of hot and dry air coming from North Africa.

Mainland Spain also recorded an absolute temperature record for the month of April on Thursday with 38.8 degrees Celsius at Cordoba (south), according to still provisional data published by the Spanish meteorological agency.

According to scientists, repeated heat waves are an unequivocal marker of global warming and these heat waves are called to further multiply, lengthen and intensify.

According to the Portuguese Meteorological Institute, 10.2% of the continental territory was already affected by a “severe” drought at the end of March .