Portugal faces worst weather severity of the past 16 years – publico

                 

                         
                     

                 

 
                         

Portugal is facing weather conditions favorable to wildfires as not seen for about a decade and a half. And the heat promises to squeeze in most of the country in this first half of August.

                     

                          The weather severity index – one of which is normally used to describe the conditions of risk for forest fires – is higher than in 2003, 2005 and 2013, catastrophic year in terms of area burned in Portugal. “This year is the most severe in 16 years,” said José Manuel Moura, responsible for National Operations Command of Civil Protection Socorro, at a press conference on Tuesday.

The fire consumed this year, until 31 July, 28,781 acres of woods and forests, according to the latest report by the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forestry (ICNF) released Tuesday. Over the past decade, is the third largest area burned by the end of July, then to 2005 (92,000 hectares) and 2012 (68,000 hectares).

In 2014, throughout the year They burned only 20,000 hectares – the lowest since records on forest fires in Portugal. This year, both the burnt area, the number of fires already exceed the total values ​​of 2014 but are close to the average values ​​of the previous decade. Until July 31, there were 10,340 fires. The average between 2005 and 2014 was 9961. Already the burnt area is slightly below average, which is 29,467 hectares.

José Manuel Moura says that current weather conditions are able to create major problems in some time. “We have to start fires in 20 minutes with brutal force,” she said.

But the national coordinator of relief operations makes a positive assessment of fighting fires so far. “In any event we had a fire with more than 24 hours,” he explains.

The largest fire until the end of July occurred in Sever do Vouga, on April 2, with 1574 hectares of burnt area, and in Tomar, July 7, with 1580 hectares.

The Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) provides that the weather stays warm and dry in the coming days and the temperature increase in the wider continental territory at the end-of-week. On Sunday, thermometers can reach 40 degrees in some parts of the country.