According to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), 34 municipalities in the districts of Faro, Coimbra, Viseu, Guarda, Castelo Branco, Portalegre and Santarém pose the highest risk of rural fires on Tuesday.
The IPMA has also placed over 80 municipalities in Faro, Beja, Lisbon, Coimbra, Leiria, Santarém, Viseu, Portalegre, Castelo Branco, Guarda, Porto, Vila Real and Bragança at very high risk.
There are several municipalities in the high fire risk zone in all (18) counties of mainland Portugal, with the exception of Viana do Castelo.
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.
The institute foresees, at least until Friday, an increase in the risk of fires in rural areas.
Since the beginning of the year, 2910 fires have already affected 8154 hectares of rural areas.
IPMA predicts cloudiness on the continent as a whole, strong winds in some places on the western coastal strip and in the highlands, a sharp nighttime cooling, especially inland, an increase in maximum temperature on the western coast of the Central and Southern regions.
Minimum temperatures will range from 7 degrees Celsius (in Bragança) to 18 (in Faro), while maximum temperatures will range from 21 (in Guarda) to 30 (in Beja, Santarém and Lisbon).