2022 was an extremely hot and dry year. Still, it ended rainy. Here is a climate portrait of 2022 in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.
The collection and processing of data ascertained in 2022 by the 18 weather stations in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) and comparison with data from previous years from IPMA, allows us to make the 2022 climate portrait in the LMA.
From a climatology point of view, the year 2022 was an extremely hot year, the hottest since records began, with a persistent drought, which already came from one of the driest years ever, as was 2021It lasted until the end of the 3rd quarter of last year.
The last quarter of 2022, in particular the month of December, allowed the AML and the country to contract the drought situation, with very high, persistent and intense precipitation indexes with extreme phenomena, namely on December 7th and 13th. On these days, severe flooding and inundations occurred, causing heavy damage and losses in many municipalities of the Metropolitan Area.
A dry year, but rainy at the end
In 2022, it rained in the territory of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area 681.69 mm (average accumulated value) on 100 days (265 days did not record any precipitation).
The municipality with the highest accumulated average annual precipitation was Odivelas (900 mm). The municipality of Seixal, in turn, recorded the highest average daily accumulated value, with 109.60mm, on December 13, which corresponded to 15% of the total rainfall for the year 2022 in that municipality.
At the same time, On just two days in December (the 7th, between 8 pm and midnight, and the 13th, between midnight and 6 am), it rained 15% of the total annual precipitation in AML. In the month of December, the average accumulated precipitation corresponded to 42% of the year 2022 total.
The month of December 2022, in the Metropolitan Area, was classified, from the climatological point of view, as a very rainy monthplus 100% relative to the 30-year average (1971-2000).
Still, when comparing the average annual accumulated precipitation data for 2022 from the 18 meteorological stations (data available at the CLIMA.AML portal) with the 30-year average for AML (data from Climate Portal from IPMA), the 2022 had 18% less precipitation than the 30-year average (1971-2000).
In turn, by comparing the 2022 data from CLIMA.AML, with the IPMA data for 2021, it can be concluded that precipitation, in 2022, was about 55% higher than in 2021 (one of the driest years since meteorological records).
The hottest year since records
From the point of view of air temperature, and based on preliminary data from IPMA, recently released, the year 2022 was the hottest in Portugal since 1931This is the year that IPMA's meteorological records began.
The average annual temperature in AML in 2022 was, according to the data from 18 weather stations, of 17.56 ºC1 ºC above the national average value in 2022 (16.6 ºC).
The maximum temperature recorded last year in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area was in Alcochete, with 43.33 ºC, on July 13th. The highest annual average temperature was registered in the municipality of Barreiro, with 18.13 ºC. In contrast, the municipality with the lowest accumulated annual average temperature was registered in Sintra, with 16.32 ºC.
The Clima.AML project
Since the beginning of 2022, the Lisbon Metropolitan Area has an integrated meteorological monitoring network in an urban context, materialized in 18 meteorological stations, one for each of its 18 municipalities.
This project, called CLIMA.AML, allows the understanding of the patterns associated with climate change and the impacts on local communities, through a platform online which supervises, assesses, and makes compatible the meteorological data collected, in complementarity with the network of the Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
The project gives continuity to the Metropolitan Plan of Adaptation to Climate Change of the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, and is part of the Environment, Climate Change and Low Carbon Economy program, operated by the Secretary General for Environment and Climate Action, and is funded by EEA Grants 2014-2021.
