The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere reveals this Tuesday, April 4, that the Autonomous Region of Madeira recorded the “hottest ever” March and almost the driest month ever.
In a note issued, the national meteorological service indicates that the persistence of a tropical, hot and dry air mass in the Madeiran archipelago during last March, resulted in the record of the highest values of average air temperature in the month of March, since 1961.
The average temperature in Funchal was 19.5 °C (the 2nd highest value was 19.2 °C), in Chão do Areeiro 12.2 °C, in Santana 16.0 °C (the 2nd highest value was 15.5 °C) and in Porto Santo 18.2 °C. The second highest average temperature value was recorded in 1998.
Regarding the amount of precipitation in March 2023, records show that it was a very dry month, almost the driest ever, mainly in the mountainous regions and on the north coast of Madeira and Porto Santo.
In Funchal, March 2023 was the 14th least rainy month, with 23.6 mm (37% of the normal value), in Areeiro it was the 3rd least rainy month, with 37.1 mm (12% of the normal value). normal), in Santana it was the 2nd least rainy, with 5.8 mm (4% of the normal value) and in Porto Santo 3.6 mm were registered (7% of the normal value).