A tourist protects from the sun with a mask and an umbrella during a heatwave in Cordoba, in southern Andalusia region, in Spain, on August 3, 2025. (Photo by Jorge Gurrrero / AFP)
Lisbon: Hit by three heat waves, Portugal experienced its hottest and driest summer in 94 years, the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) reported Friday.
The average air temperature reached 23.51 degrees Celsius, 1.55 degrees above the 1991-2020 reference period, while the average maximum temperature stood at 30.78 degrees Celsius, the highest in more than nine decades and 2.09 degrees above the normal value.
A total of 33 new records for maximum air temperature and 10 new records for minimum air temperature were registered. On June 29, the town of Mora recorded 46.6 degrees Celsius, setting a new absolute maximum for that month in mainland Portugal.
The summer of 2025 was also the driest since 1931, with total rainfall of only 10.9 millimeters, equivalent to 24 percent of the 1991-2020 average.
IPMA described the season as "extremely hot and extremely dry," highlighting the unprecedented combination of high temperatures and minimal precipitation that made this summer stand out in Portugal's climate history.
