Winter ends next Friday. In our region, this year there was a lot of rain and even snow. Temperatures were also low. Some people posted comments on social media lamenting the cold. Six days ago, on the Reddit platform, a Danish citizen shared an aerial image of Madeira, captured from the airplane window, while en route to the Canary Islands. One person, apparently a resident of Madeira, said they felt “envious” of that tourist, because “it’s so cold here in Madeira now,” that they “wanted to be in the beautiful Canary Islands.” Another citizen commented that the cold in our archipelago “is close to the historical minimums for this time of year.” Is that really the case?
The current winter season began on December 21st and extends until March 20th. To assess average temperatures, we will use as a reference for comparison the data for the full months of January and February 2026, which are included in the climatological bulletins of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA), as well as the data from the first days of March.
We thus learned that in the month of January in the Madeira archipelago, the average air temperature was, in most of the stations analyzed, close to the climatological normal. At the Funchal/Observatory station, 17.4 °C, it was 0.3 °C higher than the climatological normal, being the 17th warmest January since 1961, equaling the years 1987 and 2017 (the warmest: 2024 with 20.0 °C).
At the Chão do Areeiro station, the average air temperature in January was 6.4 °C, a value higher than the climatological normal, corresponding to an anomaly of +0.6 °C. At the Santana station, the average temperature reached 13.1 °C, showing a negative anomaly of -0.2 °C. In Porto Santo, an average air temperature of 16.3 °C was recorded, with an anomaly of +0.3 °C higher than the normal reference value for 1991-2020. It was the 17th warmest January since 1961 in Porto Santo.
Regarding the month of February, it was characterized by average air temperatures above normal (reference normal 1991-2020) in the four reference stations. At the Funchal/Observatory station, the average air temperature, 17.7°C, was 0.9°C higher than the climatological normal.
The Chão do Areeiro station recorded the most significant average air temperature, registering 9.8°C, corresponding to an anomaly of +4.2°C, the 3rd highest value since 1961 (the highest was recorded in 2024 with 10.1°C). The Santana station recorded an average air temperature of 13.9°C, showing a positive anomaly of +0.8°C.
In Porto Santo, the average air temperature was 16.7°C (+0.9°C compared to the 1991-2020 reference normal), the 6th highest since 1961, matching the years 1987 and 1995 (the highest was recorded in 2024 with 18.6°C).
Regarding the current month of March, the available data is still partial and refers only to two stations. Unlike what happened in the first two months of this year, in Funchal (Observatory) and Porto Santo, average temperatures were almost always below the reference normal, which is 17.4°C in the first case and 16.3°C in the second. At the Funchal (Observatory) station, the lowest average was recorded on the 3rd (13.9°C) and the highest on the 12th (17.4°C). At the Porto Santo station, the lowest average air temperature was also recorded on the 3rd (13.7°C) and the highest on the 12th (16.0°C). Even so, overall, the average temperatures of the first days of March 2026 did not deviate much from climatological normals.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the claim that the cold this winter in Madeira is “close to historical minimums for this time of year” is not supported by the data observed so far and by the climatological normals of IPMA (Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere).