PDSI Index - Current situation -October 2023

According to the PDSI index, at the end of October, there was a significant decrease in the area and intensity of the meteorological drought throughout the continent. However, some places in Alentejo and Algarve are still experiencing meteorological drought. Of note:

• The entire North region and much of the Center region in rainfall classes;
• Lisbon region and Tagus valley and upper Alentejo in the normal class;
• Districts of Setúbal, Beja and Faro with some locations in the weak drought class.

In terms of percentage distribution by classes of the PDSI index in the mainland, at the end of October it was verified:

• 1.5 % in the severe rain class;
• 45.9 % in the moderate rain class;
• 9.0 % in the light rain class;
• 30.8% in the normal class;
• 12.8 % in the weak drought class.

Drought monitoring

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PDSI Index (Palmer Drought Severity Index) was developed by Palmer (1965) and implemented and calibrated for mainland Portugal (Pires, 2003).

This index is based on the concept of the water balance taking into account data on the amount of precipitation, air temperature and available water capacity in the soil and allows the detection of periods of drought by classifying them in terms of intensity (weak, moderate, severe and extreme).

Last 12 month evolution