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The One Minute Geographer: Some Key Facts About Portugal’s Climate
Portugal has what geographers call ‘Mediterranean climate,’ and ‘Mediterranean vegetation,’ even though no part of Portugal touches the Mediterranean Sea! (Map above.) The main characteristics of this type of climate are hot summers in the south; warm summers in the north; (map below) summer drought, and rain concentrated in winter.
We saw in a previous post how Lisbon, near the center of Portugal, is at about the same latitude as Washington DC. So let’s use those two cities to compare temperatures (in Fahrenheit).
In Lisbon, the hottest month is August and the average daily high that month is 83° — still pretty pleasant. In DC, the hottest month is July and the average daily high that month is 90° — that’s HOT!
In both cities the coldest month is January. The average daily low that month is 47° in Lisbon (not bad), but in DC it’s 26° — that’s FREEZING!
But Washington and Lisbon are at about the same latitude. We know that coastal locations have more moderate climates than interior continental locations. But both Lisbon and Washington DC are essentially coastal…..so why such a difference in climate?
A full, correct and technical scientific explanation would require this post to become the “One Hour Geographer,” so let me offer ‘a…
