The rain that fell during the early hours of this Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Ponta do Sol/Lugar de Baixo was torrential, judging by the extreme precipitation values recorded at the 17 active meteorological stations in the IPMA network in the Madeira Archipelago.
In Lugar de Baixo – where the weather station is installed – the rain fell heavily and abundantly at around 6:00 am. So much so that in just 10 minutes 13.2 litres per square metre (mm) were recorded, a value that corresponds to a yellow warning for the 1-hour interval (between 10 and 20 mm/1h). During this period the intensity of the precipitation was 1.32 mm/minute. If the intensity had continued for 1 hour, the accumulated amount would have reached 79.2 mm/h. According to the IPMA criteria, torrential rain is considered when the intensity is greater than 60 mm/h. Hence, 13.2 mm/10 min. is considered torrential rain.
Equally very significant was the accumulation of an orange warning quantity (21 to 40 mm/1h) in (less than) half an hour (29.7 mm/30 min).
As DIÁRIO reported in due time, the rainfall at this station in Ponta do Sol reached ‘double red’ levels: 44.4 mm/1h (41 to 60 mm/1h and 61.3 mm/6h (above 60 mm/6h). In these intervals of more than 1 hour, the 52.9 mm accumulated in the 2 hours of greatest rainfall (between 4:20 and 6:20) stands out, that is, already relatively close to reaching red for triple the time period (6h).
Almost simultaneously (between 6:00 and 6:30) the two stations in Areeiro also recorded extreme amounts of precipitation for meteorological warning: Chão do Areeiro (19.5 mm/30min.) and Pico do Areeiro (17.6 mm/30min.).
Shortly afterwards (between 7:00 and 7:30) heavy rain hit the island of Porto Santo. There was so much rain at dawn that it took only half an hour for the weather station at the airport to register an orange warning level (24.9 mm/30 min; 33.4 mm/1h).
Judging by the IPMA rainfall records (the Ponta de São Jorge station is inactive), the movement of the most active area will have crossed ‘diagonally’ – entering through Ponta do Sol and passing through Areeiro – the island of Madeira, until reaching the island of Porto Santo.