September with little rain and above average temperatures

Lugar de Baixo was the hottest and Santo da Serra the rainiest.

The month of September 2024 was marked by very little rain in almost all IPMA meteorological stations in Madeira, and in terms of temperature, most showed above-average values. The data was released today by the Regional Directorate of Statistics, as always subdivided into the meteorological indicators made available by the regional Delegation of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere.

Air temperature 

“In September 2024, the highest average temperature (24.2 °C) was recorded at Lugar de Baixo station and the lowest average temperature was recorded at Chão do Areeiro (12.8 °C),” he highlights. “Compared to the climatological normals for September, of the seven stations for which it was possible to make this information available, six presented higher values. The average temperature at Chão do Areeiro was exactly the same as the normal for this station”, he guarantees.

“As regards the absolute maximum and minimum temperatures recorded in the month of September, the maximum extreme of 29.6 °C was recorded at the São Vicente station (on the 3rd), and the minimum extreme was recorded at the Pico do Areeiro station (4.2 °C on the 4th). The Lugar de Baixo station recorded 30 days with maximum temperatures above 25 ºC, with the normal value for this station being 24.5 days”.

Precipitation

Last month, “the highest total rainfall value was recorded at the Santo da Serra meteorological station (63.5 mm). However, it was at the Santana station that the highest daily rainfall value was observed (16.9 mm on the 28th),” he summarises. “In comparison with the 1961-1990 climatological normal for the month of September, all stations recorded negative anomalies, with the Chão do Areeiro station standing out with an anomaly of -133.2 mm (normal equal to 169.7 mm).”

And he adds: “Analyzing the days with precipitation (days with rain, rainy and very rainy), the maximum number of days with rain (days with 0.1 mm of precipitation or more) was recorded at the Santana station (17 days), the maximum number of rainy days (days with 1.0 mm of precipitation or more) was recorded at the Chão do Areeiro station (11 days) and at the Santo da Serra station there were 3 very rainy days (days with 10 mm of precipitation or more).”

Relative humidity

As everything is connected, “the monthly average values ​​of relative air humidity varied between 65% in Funchal/Observatório and 95% in Santo da Serra”, with “the minimum daily value of relative air humidity (4%) being recorded at the Pico do Areeiro station on the 29th and 30th, while the maximum value (100%) was reached at seven stations, on different days of the month”, he points out.

Wind 

“In September 2024, among the stations with anemometer, it was at Selvagem Grande station that the highest average wind intensity was recorded (26.2 km/h), on the other hand, it was at Lido station that the lowest average was recorded (3.4 km/h). The highest gust of wind was recorded on the 12th at Pico Alto (108 km/h)”, he calculates.

Sea water

Finally, “the average sea water temperature measured at Molhe da Pontinha (Funchal) was 23.3 °C (+0.4 °C than the normal value for this month). The highest average temperature was recorded on the 14th and 15th (23.6 °C) and the lowest (22.9 °C) on the 23rd and 24th”.

From Diário Notícias