After the prologue of the previous day with the surprising tropical dawn recorded on Christmas Eve in Ponta do Sol/Lugar de Baixo, the last night in this ‘First Octave’ of Christmas was totally tropical – the air temperature did not drop below 20 °C – in at least three locations/municipalities on the island of Madeira covered by the IPMA network in the Madeira Archipelago (18 on the island of Madeira, 1 in Porto Santo and 1 in Selvagem Grande).
The tropical night, already in the middle of winter, was observed at the stations of Funchal/Lido (from sunset to sunrise the temperature varied between 20.5 °C/22.3 °C), Porto Moniz (20.0 °C/21.6 °C) and Ponta do Sol/Lugar de Baixo (20.5 °C/23.8 °C).
Highlight again for the Ponta do Sol site, which during the ‘hot’ morning (05:10) this Thursday saw the air temperature at the surface reach very close to 24 °C.
Note also that seven other stations (Funchal/Observatory, Cancela/SRPC, Santa Cruz/Airport, São Vicente, Ponta do Pargo, Quinta Grande and Porto Santo/Airport) although they did not spend the night with temperatures not lower than 20 °C, occasionally recorded ‘tropical’ values during the early hours.
While high temperatures for the time of year prevailed along the coast, the temperature at the top of the island was (much more) consistent with the current winter season. The lowest temperature extremes were recorded at Pico do Areeiro (3.7 °C, minimum, 5.8 °C, maximum).
If the weather forecast is confirmed in terms of temperature, there should be no more tropical nights for the rest of the year.