Seventeen municipalities in four districts are at maximum fire risk

According to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), seventeen municipalities in the districts of Faro, Portalegre, Santarém and Castelo Branco pose the highest risk of rural fires on Tuesday.

Six municipalities in Faro, six in Santarém, two in Portalegre and three in Castelo Branco are at maximum fire risk.

IPMA has also placed more than 50 municipalities in Faro, Beja, Évora, Portalegre, Castelo Branco, Santarem, Leiria, Coimbra, Guarda Viseu, Vila Real and Bragança in a very high fire risk group.

Several municipalities in all areas of the mainland, except for Aveiro, Porto and Viana do Castelo, pose a high fire risk on Tuesday.

IPMA predicts a very high fire risk until at least the end of the week.

The fire danger defined by IPMA has five levels, from minimum to maximum.

Calculations are made based on air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and precipitation over the past 24 hours.

IPMA predicts cloudy to clear weather on the continent this Tuesday, local strong winds from the East Quadrant in the highlands until mid-morning and lower maximum temperatures on the west coast.

Minimum temperatures will range from 07 degrees Celsius (in Bragança) to 15 (in Faro, Coimbra and Porto), and maximum temperatures from 22 (in Guarda) to 32 (in Santarém).