Worst drought of last 100 years

By TPN/Lusa, in News · 10-11-2017 16:07:00 · 0 Comments

Droughts have become more frequent and prolonged in Portugal, with a decrease in the annual average rainfall, which mainly affects the south, said climate expert Filipe Duarte Santos.

Compared to the years since 1960, the annual average rainfall has decreased across the Iberian Peninsula and in other areas in the Mediterranean.

“In Portugal’s case the decrease is around 40 millimetres per decade which is a significant amount, so 200 millimetres of rain in half a century, that is 20 centimetres of water, said the professor.

The numbers are particularly higher in the south: in the interior of the Alentejo the annual average rainfall was 500 millimetres before the reduction.

The current drought in Portugal has been considered the most intense, prolonged and worst of the last 100 years. A drought like this in the Middle Ages would have been dramatic, the country would have been in deep hunger crisis, he added.