IPMA issued a yellow warning due to the forecast of heavy showers accompanied by thunderstorms, which joins the warning for wind.
The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) has issued a yellow warning for precipitation, in addition to the yellow warning for wind that is already in force, due to the forecast of sometimes heavy showers accompanied by thunderstorms.
The rain warning is valid for the entire Madeira archipelago between 6 am on Monday, December 23, and 9 pm on the same day, when Market Night is celebrated in Funchal.
A situation that was already expected, as DIÁRIO reported first-hand last Wednesday, according to the meteorological updates drawn up by the IPMA Observatory delegate in Madeira, who considered the probability of rain returning between the end of Sunday and Christmas Eve morning to be high, precipitation that could even reach significant levels, with the highest incidence expected to occur again on the south coast of Madeira Island.
“A depression is expected to form south of the Madeira Archipelago on Sunday, which will be associated with periods of rain or showers from the end of that day until the early hours of Tuesday (24th),” Victor Prior said at the time. He added that “after this period of predicted rain, there should be no precipitation for the next 4 or 5 days”, meaning that a rain-free Christmas.
According to the Special Christmas Forecast for 2024 presented by IPMA for Madeira, “between the 21st and 26th of December, the weather in the Madeira archipelago will be influenced by an anticyclone, located northeast of the Azores, moving towards Europe from the 24th, and by a depression at altitude centered south of the Iberian Peninsula, moving to the southwest”.
Therefore, “days with periods of heavy cloudiness and showers are expected, which could be heavy and accompanied by thunderstorms on Monday, the 23rd”.
The wind will be moderate to strong from the northeast, with gusts up to 75 km/h, temporarily with gusts up to 100 km/h in the highlands on Saturday, the 21st, and on Sunday, the 22nd, gradually becoming weak to moderate from the east from the morning of Monday, the 23rd.
The maximum temperature is expected to be between 18 and 20°C, with a possibility of rising to 22°C on Wednesday, Christmas Day, and Thursday the 26th, but with temperatures below 10°C in the highlands. The minimum temperature is expected to be between 14 and 16°C, with temperatures lower in the highlands, where temperatures between 1 and 4°C may be recorded.
Sea agitation will be more intense on the north coast with waves from the northeast with significant heights of 2.5 to 3.5 meters, decreasing to 1.5 to 2 meters from the afternoon of the 24th.
For this reason, inter-island sea connections were cancelled yesterday and today.