Instituto Portugues do Mar e Atmosfera - Homepage

  • Who we are | 
  • Where we are | 
  • Scientific Council | 
  • Research | 
  • eLibrary | 
  • ipma encyclopedia  | 
  • Contacts | 
  • Português
  • Weather
    • Weather forecast
    • 10 days and hourly forecast
    • Weather Warnings
    • Meteorological charts
    • Vertical profile
    • Satellite observations
    • Radar
    • Lightning
    • Solar Radiation
    • Online weather stations
    • World forecast
    • Tropical cyclones forecast
    • Report a meteorological phenomenon?
  • Seismic
    • Seismic maps
    • Shakemap
    • Felt an earthquake?
    • Moment Tensor
    • Networks
    • Bulletins
    • Projects
  • Sea
    • Beaches and ports
    • Marine forecast
    • Significant wave height
    • Sea peak period
    • Surface current
    • Sea surface temperature
    • Sea surface height
  • Climate
    • Climate Monitoring
    • Climate Normals
    • Daily monitoring
    • Long data series
    • Monthly monitoring
    • Drought
    • Greenhouse gases
    • Climate Extremes
    • Climate web portal
    • Climate Services
  • Bivalves
    • Bivalves - Situation point
    • Legislation and Documents
    • Production areas
    • Biotoxins
    • Phytoplankton
    • Contaminants Metals
    • Microbiology
    • Bivalves - historical
  • Fisheries
    • Disclosure
    • Projects
    • Fish management
    • ICES
  • Aeronautic
    • TAF and METAR
    • Self Briefing
    • Know more
  • Agriculture
    • Soil Moist Index
    • Vegetation Health Index (VHI)
    • Fraction of Absorbed Radiation (FAPAR)
    • More information
    • Agroclimatic platform
  • Health
    • Ultra-violet index
    • Ozone
    • Pollen
  • Vessels
    • Framework
    • RV Mário Ruivo
    • RV Diplodus
    • Maris
    • Recife II
    • Cardium
  • Space
    • MSG satellite
  • Rural Fires
    • Mainland Rural Fire Danger
    • Madeira Rural Fire Danger
    • Reports Rural Fire Danger

News

  • Fisheries and Aquaculture

    Aquafish Project Meeting
    Fri Jul 11 08:00:00 UTC 2025
  • Innovative Approaches to Fire Research

    Imagem da notícia - Logo IPMA Congress Fire in the Terrestrial System
    Wed Jun 25 09:00:00 UTC 2025
  • Food Safey Event

    World Food Safety Day
    Tue Jun 17 09:00:00 UTC 2025
  • More news
IPMA>Climate>Drought Observatory

PDSI Index (Palmer Drought Severity Index)

PDSI Index - Current situation - May 2025

According to the PDSI index, at the end of May the whole of mainland Portugal was still not in a meteorological drought, although there was a decrease in the intensity of the rainfall classes. There was a significant decrease in the severe rainfall class in the Central and Southern regions

In terms of the percentage distribution by class of the meteorological drought index, PDSI, in mainland Portugal, at the end of May there were:

  • 2.8% in the severe rainfall class,
  • 64.5% in the moderate rainfall class,
  • 25.9% in the light rain class,
  • 6.8% in the normal class.

Drought monitoring

  • Summary and about

Legend

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).

Table - Classification of the PDSI index for dry and rainy periods
Color legend PDSI Classes Description
greater than or equal to 4,0 Extreme rain Extreme rain
3,00 to 3,99 Severe rain Severe rain
2,00 to 2,99 Moderate rain Moderate rain
1,00 to 1,99 Weak rain Weak rain
-0,99 to 0,99 Normal Normal
-1,99 to -1,0 Weak drought Weak drought
-2,99 to -2,0 Moderate drought Moderate drought
-3,99 to -3,0 Severe drought Severe drought
less than or equal to -4,00 Extreme drought Extreme drought

Last 12 month evolution

 
 
  • Media

    • News
    • Communiqué
    • Lectures / workshops
    • YouTube
    • IPMA on Educast
  • Social network

    • Facebook
    • Facebook - Azores
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
  • Services

    • Products and services
    • RSS
    • Apps Android
    • Apps Apple
    • PDA
  • Information

    • Contact
    • Useful links
    • Research scholarship
    • EEAGrants projects
    • ECMWF
  • About site

    • Accessibility
    • Legal warnings
    • Site Map
  • Web projects

    • Observar
    • Subscriptions
    • Survey
    • E-learning
    • Shakemap
 
  • Apcer - A marca da Certificação
  • Lisboa:
        UTC:

    Copyright © Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere 2025
  • Ministério da Economia Ministério Agricultura e Pescas