Heat: 7 districts in yellow, 30 municipalities at maximum risk

Seven districts in mainland Portugal are under a yellow warning this Friday due to the continuation of hot weather, according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA). Due to the heat, more than 30 municipalities in the districts of Viseu, Coimbra, Guarda, Castelo Branco and Portalegre are at maximum risk of rural fires.

The districts of Portalegre, Castelo Branco, Beja and Évora will be under a yellow warning until 6 pm this Friday and Bragança, Guarda and Vila Real until 9 pm.

The yellow warning, the least serious, is issued by IPMA when there is a risk situation for certain activities dependent on the meteorological situation.

For this Friday, on the continent, partly cloudy or clear skies are expected , with more cloudiness on the coast and, during the afternoon, in the interior North and Center and fog or mist on the coastal strip .

A small rise in the minimum temperature is also expected in the North and Central coast and a small drop in the maximum temperature.

Minimum temperatures will range between 16 degrees Celsius (in Setúbal) and 23 (in Portalegre) and maximum temperatures between 28 (in Viana do Castelo) and 38 (in Castelo Branco and Santarém).

The IPMA also placed almost all municipalities in the 18 districts on the mainland at very high and high risk of fire .

According to the institute's calculations, the danger of rural fires will remain high in the coming days in some districts.

This danger, determined by the IPMA, has five levels, ranging from low to high. The calculations are obtained from air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and amount of precipitation in the last 24 hours.

According to the website of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), since the beginning of the year and until today there have been 2,720 fire incidents, with 7,846 hectares of rural areas having burned.

Due to the continued hot weather, IPMA has placed the districts of Portalegre, Castelo Branco, Beja and Évora under yellow warning until 6:00 pm today and Bragança, Guarda and Vila Real until 9:00 pm today.

The yellow warning, the least serious, is issued by IPMA when there is a risk situation for certain activities dependent on the meteorological situation.

All districts of mainland Portugal and the Madeira archipelago are also at very high risk of exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, according to the IPMA.

The risk will remain very high until Sunday .

On Monday, the situation will worsen and the districts of Guarda, Santarém, Lisbon, Setúbal, Évora and Beja will be at extreme risk and the rest at very high risk.

The Madeira archipelago will experience very high levels of exposure to UV radiation until Monday.

According to the IPMA, the Azores archipelago is at very high and high risk this Friday and until Sunday.

The ultraviolet radiation scale has five levels, from extreme to low risk.

For regions at extreme risk, the IPMA recommends avoiding sun exposure as much as possible.

In regions with very high risk, the IPMA recommends the use of sunglasses with UV filters, a hat, a t-shirt, a parasol, sunscreen and avoiding exposing children to the sun.

The IPMA recommends the use of sunglasses with UV filters, a hat, a t-shirt and sunscreen in high-risk regions.