Weather and climate in Portugal: winter in the flat, heat inland and a cold ocean
Portugal is sold as a land of endless summer, and a newcomer's first disappointment is usually not in summer but in winter: outside it is 15 °C and sunny, at home it is 13, the walls are damp, black mould is spreading in the corner behind the wardrobe, and there is nothing to keep warm with — the building simply has no heating. In fact the country has four climates: the rainy north, the mild coast with Lisbon, the dry south and the inland areas, where it tops 40 in summer and freezes in winter; Madeira and the Azores stand apart, at around twenty all year round. This guide is about what to do about all that: how to choose a home you can get through the winter in, what to heat it with and what that costs in euros, where mould comes from and how to keep it away, what to do in the heat and on days with a warning, why the ocean here is 14–20 degrees even in September, and where to find a forecast you can trust. The figures come from the climate normals and bulletins of IPMA (Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere), from data published by the environment agency APA and the energy regulator ERSE; everything else comes from conversations with people who have already spent a winter here.
Four climates in one small country
Portugal is smaller than many Russian regions, but its weather varies beyond recognition. It is not so much about latitude as about two things: how far you are from the ocean and how many metres above sea level.
Here are IPMA's normals for 1991–2020 — these are thirty-year averages, not anyone's impressions:
— Porto (Pedras Rubras station): January averages 10.2 °C, August 20.2. 1,147 mm of rain a year and 105 rainy days. Days when the air warms up to 30 °C — thirteen a summer; — Lisbon (Gago Coutinho): January 11.1, August 23.8. 722 mm of rain, 73 rainy days. Days hotter than 30 °C — 36, hotter than 35 °C — seven; — Faro, the Algarve: January 12.3, August 24.6. 455 mm of rain and only 49 rainy days; but 45 nights a year when it does not drop below 20 °C even at night; — Évora, the Alentejo, 100 km from the ocean: the average daytime maximum in July and August is 33 degrees. Days hotter than 30 °C — 86, hotter than 35 °C — 32. And at the same time six days of frost a year; — Bragança, the north-east, 690 m above sea level: January averages 4.8 °C, around zero at night. 53 days of frost a year — and 45 summer days hotter than 30 °C; — Funchal on Madeira: January 17.1, August 23.7. Days hotter than 30 °C — two and a half a year; — Ponta Delgada in the Azores: January 15.1, August 23.0. Not a single day hotter than 30 °C in thirty years of records, but 988 mm of rain and 122 rainy days.
The way to read this: in temperature the country is fairly even, but in rainfall the difference is two and a half times — the north is wet, the south is dry. And almost all the rain falls in winter: in summer it simply does not rain, and the July normal in Lisbon is 2.9 mm for the month.
The second dividing line is not north–south but coast–inland. Drive inland away from the ocean and a different country begins: IPMA closed August 2026 with a maximum of 43.5 °C in Pinhão in the Douro and a minimum of 6.0 °C in Lamas de Mouro in the north — in the very same month.
“Well, first decide where you're comparing! The climate in the south and the north is very different. And if you go inland from the ocean coast, it's much hotter there”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkleft4portugal29.05.2026
“Porto has an almost ideal climate: thanks to the ocean even the worst summer heat passes much faster and more easily than in Lisbon; winter has rain, but moderate, and there are often lots of sunny days.”
Translated from Ukrainian; the original is at the linkukrporto26.08.2026
Winter: 15 °C outside, 13 °C in the flat
This is the main surprise of the first winter, and it is not about frost. There is almost no frost on the coast: in Lisbon it happens on average once every ten years, in Porto a day and a half per winter. The problem is something else: Portuguese homes were built against heat, not cold.
What this means in practice. Central heating simply does not exist in the country. A flat usually has no radiators. Walls are often uninsulated, many buildings have single-glazed windows, and gaps in window frames and doors are considered normal. The building warms up in the sun during the day and gives it all back overnight, so the room temperature follows the outdoor temperature with a lag of several hours — and by morning the bedroom is at 13–15 degrees with 10 outside.
This is not a matter of "getting used to it": in its housing and health guidelines the World Health Organization names 18 °C as the safe minimum indoor temperature for countries with temperate and cold climates. According to Eurostat, in 2025 15.6% of people in Portugal could not keep their homes adequately warm — the EU average is 8.8%, and in 2023, after energy prices rose, the figure in Portugal was 20.8%. In other words, one person in six here is cold at home in winter.
Three things make the difference, and all three can be seen when you view a home: the building's energy rating (on the certificate, from A+ to F), double glazing instead of single panes, and the direction the windows face. A south-facing flat warms itself up on a sunny day; a north-facing one never does.
“Outside it's warmer and much sunnier, at home it's colder and damper (hello fungus). Depends on your budget of course, but most often there's no heating, same as no air conditioning, and the Portuguese themselves often walk around at home in felt boots and hats.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkleft4portugal29.05.2026
“Our home is pretty cold in winter, it got down to +15 at times. But the little one is a real fidget, so we didn't dress him very warmly. Fleece-lined trousers, a bodysuit and on top either a jumper or a fleece-lined top. He didn't wear socks a single day 🫣 barefoot all winter, even on the tiles. Don't know if that's good or bad, but getting socks or any kind of little boots on him was impossible - he took everything off within 3 seconds. So socks were only while he slept.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkpequenos_PT28.08.2026
What to heat with and what it costs
People here heat with electricity; the only question is which appliance.
— A split air conditioner with a heating mode is the cheapest option. It does not turn electricity into heat but moves heat from outside into the room, so for the same kilowatt it gives several times more heat than a coil. An inverter model does not run the motor flat out but holds the set temperature. Just one drawback: it heats the room it hangs in; — an oil-filled radiator, convector heater or fan heater gives an honest kilowatt for a kilowatt. They are good because you can buy one today and plug it in, bad because within a month they send your bill sky-high; — a gas bottle (botija de gás) and a portable gas heater are cheap in money and dangerous in every other way: an open flame produces a lot of moisture (which means mould) and carbon monoxide. If you heat this way, the room has to be ventilated, and you must never sleep with the heater running; — a fireplace or wood-burning stove (salamandra) is common in houses outside towns; the heat is cheap, but you have to light it by hand every day; — a heat pump with underfloor heating is what goes into new A-rated homes. Expensive to install, cheap to run; in a rented flat it is not for you.
The arithmetic is simple. A 2 kW heater switched on for five hours in the evening uses 10 kilowatt-hours. On ERSE's regulated tariff for 2026 a kilowatt-hour costs €0.1986 on average — so about €2 a day and €60 a month for one warm room. Two rooms and a bathroom — already €150–200 on top of the usual bill.
Where people really save here: on the tariff (ERSE has a comparison tool for offers, and the difference between the cheapest supplier and the regulated tariff is about a tenth of the bill), on the contracted power (potência), which you pay for every month regardless of how much you use, and on the social tariff (tarifa social) if your income is low. How this works is explained in our guide How to connect electricity, water and internet.
“Two winters and I realised that living without an inverter air conditioner is impossible 😁”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkremont_pt10.06.2026
“Our flat is energy class C, the heating is gas. Two-bedroom near the ocean. Electricity and gas are billed together. In winter heating, in summer a fixed air conditioner, because it's hot. The electricity and gas bill is highest in February — 297 euros, lowest in June, without the air conditioner, — 60 euros. So I'd look at energy efficiency: in winter it's cold, in summer it's hot. And when we were paying almost 300 euros for electricity with heating, it was 22.5 degrees in the flat. I feel the cold, it wasn't comfortable enough for me. But this is near the ocean: cold wind, cold nights.”
Translated from Ukrainian; the original is at the linkukrporto11.09.2026
Damp and mould: where it comes from and what helps
Mould in a Portuguese flat is neither an accident nor a sign of an untidy tenant. In winter the air is humid and the walls are cold; warm, humid air touches a cold wall, cools down and gives up its water. Then the black patches appear exactly where the wall is coldest: in corners, behind the wardrobe, around the window reveals, on the bathroom ceiling. Aluminium frames without a thermal break act like a fridge — water collects on them first.
What works:
— heat. Mould grows on a cold wall. A heated room dries out, an unheated one does not; — short bursts of cross-ventilation, five to ten minutes morning and evening, with the windows wide open. Leaving a window ajar all day chills the walls and only makes things worse; — a dehumidifier (desumidificador) that extracts 10–20 litres a day. In winter it really does fill a bucket of water a week; you can dry your washing on it too; — do not dry washing in a room without an extractor fan, and close the bathroom door when you shower; — move furniture at least five centimetres away from the outside wall so that air can circulate behind the wardrobe.
What is not worth doing: painting over the patch and hoping. If the damp is rising from the ground (this is called humidade ascendente) or the roof leaks, the paint will peel off along with the mould within a month and the problem will remain.
If you rent and the mould comes from the building itself, it is the landlord's problem, not yours: they are obliged to keep the home fit to live in. How to talk to them about it and what to put in a letter is covered in the guides Renting a home in Portugal and What a landlord is obliged to do. If you have a cough without a cold and a blocked nose at home that clear up outdoors, tell your doctor directly — how to see a family doctor is covered separately.
“I don't know if landlords here deal with mould. Seems like with the Portuguese speed of solving problems - better to do it yourself. The only things that help against mould are a dehumidifier and heating. The electricity bills in winter are just astronomical, but there's no other way. Also aluminium frames make the mould worse, because they condense more moisture than plastic ones.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkpequenos_PT12.03.2026
“chances are you got lucky 😊 Even with single-glazed windows you can adapt: tape up the gaps with masking tape in winter, buy a good dehumidifier and heaters. Winter here isn't that scary - there are no sub-zero temperatures. I live in a block of flats where almost all the flats have ancient single-glazed sliding windows and balcony doors.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatfigueira23.05.2026
View the flat in a cold month
The cheapest cure for the winter cold is to choose a different flat. But in summer this does not work: in July every flat is warm and dry, and the mould has been neatly painted over.
What to ask about and look at during a viewing:
— the rating on the energy certificate (certificado energético). It must be shown to you before you sign the contract, and it ranges from A+ to F. A and B mean a new building that is warm in winter; with D, E or F, be ready to heat it at your own expense; — the windows: single glazing or double glazing, and whether there are shutters or roller shutters (estores) — in summer they matter more than an air conditioner; — which way it faces. A north-facing flat will never warm up in winter; a south-facing one warms itself; — what to heat it with: whether there is an air conditioner with a heating mode, and whether an outdoor unit may be put on the façade at all — in a condominium that is not your decision; — the bills for January and February. Ask to see them: they are the most honest description of the home; — corners, window reveals and the wall behind the wardrobe — where mould appears first. You notice the smell of damp straight away.
“You won't catch the mould now. Better to choose flats in the cold season. Ask for an official contract registered with Finanças, so you get the refund and can apply for a residence permit/renewal. Look at the energy class, ask how much the bills usually come to, look at the size of the boiler if the hot water is heated by it (matters when 2 or more people will live there and shower), better if there's an air con (better with heating — cheaper than a separate heater), look at the area (if it's touristy, then from April to October stoned Germans-Brits will be yelling till morning).”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatalgarve16.03.2026
“And if you view it now, when it's already warm, you won't understand how cold the flat will be in winter. So having air conditioners in the flat is a plus (since heating with them is the cheapest option). In past years people here managed to spend an extra 300-500 euros a month on ordinary electric heaters.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa17.03.2026
Summer: the heat is not on the beach but inland
On the coast summer is mild: Porto has only thirteen days hotter than 30 degrees a season, Lisbon 36. The real heat lives inland — the Alentejo, the Douro valley, Castelo Branco, Santarém: in Évora the daytime maximum goes above 30 on 86 days a year and above 35 on 32 days.
How people live with it:
— in the daytime they close everything: shutters, roller shutters, curtains, windows. An open window at midday is not ventilation but letting in hot air; — they air the home at night and early in the morning, when the air cools down. On the coast this almost always works: at night a breeze comes in from the ocean; — the air conditioner goes in during spring. With the first heatwave installers are booked up a month ahead, and the models you need are not in the shops; — on the hardest days they stay indoors from 12:00 to 17:00, drink plenty and do not leave children or dogs in the car. Who is most at risk from the heat and what to do in case of heatstroke is covered in a separate guide — Heat and wildfires in Portugal.
One thing newcomers are not ready for is tropical nights, when it does not drop below 20 degrees even at night. Faro has 45 such nights a year, Funchal 71. Sleeping on a night like that without a fan is hard, and a home that does not manage to cool down overnight is warmer than the street by morning.
“Coimbra is really great, but it's very hot there in summer. A good hospital, adult and children's, the university has lots of programmes for kids. The crowd is academic, like they call eggs chicken fruit. So everyone is super friendly, but fairly reserved by Portuguese standards. In Porto at first I watched it like a circus when people yell in the streets, not to mention the caralho at every step😅 You can swim in the Mondego, the water is warm, and if you're lucky even in October. But in summer it can easily be close to 40. The city is on high ground, it's much cooler at night, which is a relief of course.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatporto12.05.2026
“At night I have fans standing in the hallway pulling the air through so cool air comes into the rooms through the windows. And in the morning we close everything and it's fine, not hot until the evening. There's also a ceiling fan, a good idea.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkremont_pt30.06.2026
Yellow, orange, red: how to read the warnings
Weather warnings are issued by IPMA, and there are four colours: green — no threat and no warning at all, then yellow, orange and red. They are issued by district, not by town, and for specific hours.
The thresholds are published, and they are worth knowing:
— wind: gusts of 70–90 km/h — yellow, 91–130 — orange, above 130 — red; — rain: 10–20 mm in an hour — yellow, 21–40 — orange, more than 40 — red; — rough sea: waves of 4–5 metres — yellow, 5–7 — orange, above 7 — red; — heat and cold are assessed for each district separately and only if the weather is expected to last at least two days. In Lisbon a yellow heat warning means 34–37 degrees, orange 38–40, red above 40. In Santarém yellow starts at 38, and red only above 43: heat like that is normal there. In Porto yellow starts as low as 32. For cold, yellow in Lisbon means a night between +3 and +1, and in Bragança between −4 and −7.
The practical meaning is simple. Yellow is an ordinary day, but not the best one for hiking in the mountains, a long drive or work on a roof. Orange — change your plans: on such days parks and beaches are closed, outdoor classes are cancelled and ferry sailings are called off. Red — stay at home.
A warning is about risk, not degrees: for the exact temperature, look at the forecast itself.
Fires: the smoke travels further than the flames
From July to September forests burn across the country — every year and on a large scale. For someone in a town this usually means not flames but a smell of burning in the morning, a grey haze and wooded parks closed to the public.
What is worth knowing and being able to check:
— the fire danger is calculated for each day and for each municipality — it determines what is banned today: campfires, barbecues outside designated areas, a petrol strimmer on your plot. The scale and the map are on IPMA's site; — where fires are burning right now can be seen on fogos.pt: a map of the fires and how many people and vehicles are working on them; — on dangerous days parks and nature areas are closed — in the Lisbon metropolitan area this means town squares and gardens stay open, while anything that looks like a forest is closed; — smoke: if your flat smells of burning, close the windows and switch the air conditioner to recirculation — this is that rare case when it does more good than airing the room.
In detail — what is banned on a day of maximum danger, what the fines are, how to clear fifty metres around a house and what to do if the fire is already close — in a separate guide, Heat and wildfires in Portugal. For a fire or any danger to life, call 112.
“I can see from the window there's smoke over towards Leiria, and a smell of burning. Worrying. The wind is blowing our way.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatleiria18.08.2025
“Yes, I also woke up this morning to the smell of smoke. Although yesterday, when it was burning, nothing reached us.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatsetubal04.07.2026
The ocean: 14–20 degrees, and that is normal
The Atlantic off the Portuguese coast is cold all year round, and this is not a case of "bad luck this year". A cold current runs along the coast, and in summer the north wind brings deep water up to the shore — the harder it blows, the colder the swimming.
Here is IPMA's forecast for one ordinary September day, 18 September 2026: 14 degrees off Porto, 15 off Figueira da Foz, 16 off Lisbon, around 18 off Sines and Sagres, 20 off Faro, 24 off Funchal and Ponta Delgada. The difference between the north of the mainland and the islands is ten degrees on the same day.
It is warmest on the south coast of the Algarve and in shallow bays: there the water reaches 21–23 degrees by the end of summer, because it is shallow and there is no open swell. The west coast means wind, surf and currents.
Beach flags are read like this: green — swimming allowed, a lifeguard is on duty; yellow — you may go into the water but not swim; red — no going into the water at all; chequered (black and white) — the lifeguard has stepped away for a while and nobody is watching the swimmers. A red flag also goes up in good weather — because of currents, waves or polluted water.
Lifeguards are not on duty all summer or on every beach: the bathing season is set by an order each year (for 2026 — Portaria n.º 204-A/2026/1 of 30 April), and each beach has its own dates. In total the country has 671 designated bathing areas for 2026: 523 on the mainland, 88 in the Azores and 60 on Madeira. Their water is tested in a laboratory — around six thousand samples a season — and if it is polluted, swimming is banned; the environment agency APA keeps a separate list of the bans in force.
Before going to the beach it is worth checking InfoÁgua: for each beach it says whether there is a lifeguard, a Blue Flag and a ramp, what the water quality is, and today's temperature and wind.
“Nobody closed the beaches, there was just a red flag, a ban on swimming.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linknazare_pt21.08.2026
“Praia Verde is in the south of Portugal closer to Spain. It's shallow there and the water often warms up. But still, it's luck of the draw. Mostly in the Atlantic the ocean water is cool.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkRussosEmPortugal31.08.2026
Winter is not about cold but about rain and storms
Most of the year's rain arrives between November and March, and it comes not as drizzle but in bands: it pours for several days, then there is a week of sunshine. Last winter was a telling example. According to IPMA's bulletin, the winter of 2025/26 was the seventh wettest since 1931: 634.5 mm of rain — 217% of the normal, sixteen new daily rainfall records, and on 28 January wind gusts topped 130 km/h at five stations at once.
What this means for everyday life:
— the power and the connection go off. After a strong storm electricity and the internet come back not in an hour but in a day or longer. It makes sense to keep a charged power bank for your phone and a little cash; — everything blows off the balcony. Before a storm, chairs, the clothes airer, plant pots and the umbrella are brought inside, and the roof is checked for anything lying loose; — the water goes the wrong way. A blocked drain or yard grate accounts for half of all ground-floor flooding. It is better to clear them in October, not in January; — roads. In a downpour water lies across the lane, and the car goes into aquaplaning at a speed that is normal in summer. A flooded stretch of road is not driven through but driven round; — a fallen tree, a roof torn off, water in the house — call 112. The fire brigade (bombeiros) deals with this too.
Winter storms in Europe are given names, and afterwards they are referred to by name in the news and in chats — as happened with Kristin and Marta. A name means one thing: this is not ordinary rain, and it is worth checking the warning for it in advance.
“Before Kristin they were ordinary concrete slabs. On the chimney 4 bricks at the corners, and this slab on top set in mortar. In the hurricane it all blew away. To be honest I don't feel like climbing onto the roof with a slab I can't lift.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkremont_pt05.07.2026
“I'd say in the whole of Portugal I haven't seen roads as awful as in the Setúbal area anywhere else) After the hurricanes this winter/spring everything just melted away”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkautolife_pt29.06.2026
Where to check the weather so you are not guessing
Portugal's weather is worked out by the state institute IPMA, and everything else — phone apps, aggregator sites, the news — retells its data in one way or another, only later and without the warnings.
— Our page Weather in Portugal — a map, current weather and a five-day forecast for every district capital, Madeira and the Azores, based on IPMA data, twice a day; — the IPMA website and app (Meteo@IPMA) — an hourly forecast, warnings, the ultraviolet index; — the marine forecast by beach — a separate section of IPMA: wave height, wind and water temperature by the hour, nine days ahead; — fire danger and the map of fires — the IPMA sections and fogos.pt, covered above.
What not to expect from a forecast: accuracy two weeks ahead. Beyond three days it is no longer a forecast but a rough estimate based on the average of past years, and you cannot plan a trip or an outdoor wedding by it.
And finally: a warning and a forecast are different things. A forecast tells you how many degrees and millimetres there will be; a warning tells you what may be dangerous in such weather. Green on the warnings map does not mean there will be no rain.
“Install the Meteo@IPMA app or look on the website. The most accurate weather”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkRussosEmPortugal22.06.2026
“The forecast is more or less real for 3 days (that's the rain). Beyond that, as the forecasters themselves say, it's the arithmetic mean for the last ten years or so. Honestly I'm fed up with the rain already, to put it mildly ))”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat08.02.2026
What it costs, according to community conversations
| electricity with gas heating, two-bedroom flat (T2), February | €297 | source |
| electricity with gas heating, two-bedroom flat (T2), June | €60 | source |
| electric heaters in winter, on top of the bill | €300–500 a month | source |
| air conditioners for a month, house | about €200 | source |
What to bring
- The property's energy certificate (certificado energético) — it must be shown to you before you sign a rental or purchase contract
- Electricity bills for January and February — ask the landlord or the previous tenants
- The Meteo@IPMA app on your phone
- Warm clothes for indoors: homes here are colder than the street
- A dehumidifier that extracts 10–20 litres a day — from your very first winter
- A hygrometer or humidity sensor: above 70% it is time to dry the air
- A waterproof jacket and shoes: winter rain goes on for days
Where people most often trip up
- A rented flat usually has no heating at all — no radiators, no boiler; people heat with their own appliances and at their own expense
- A flat that seems wonderful in summer can sit at 13 °C in winter; it is better to view homes in a cold month
- The energy rating on the certificate is your future electricity bill, not a formality
- Heaters with a coil give out honest heat and ruin you fast: €300–500 a month on top of the usual bill is not unusual
- Permission for an air conditioner's outdoor unit on the façade is given by the condominium, not the owner of the flat; in historic buildings it may be refused altogether
- A gas heater in a closed room produces moisture and carbon monoxide; never sleep with one running
- Mould from damp is the landlord's responsibility if the cause is the building, not the way you dry your washing
- Painting over mould is pointless: without heat and ventilation it will be back within a month
- The heat 30 kilometres from the ocean is quite different from the heat on the coast; in the Alentejo 35 degrees in summer is perfectly normal
- In summer you cannot buy or install an air conditioner: from the first heatwave installers are booked up a month ahead
- IPMA warnings are issued by district, not by town, and for heat only if it is expected to last two days
- A red flag on the beach can fly on a sunny day too — because of currents or polluted water
- A chequered flag means there is no lifeguard: nobody is watching the swimmers
- The bathing season and lifeguards are not on every beach or for the whole summer — the dates are set each year
- The ocean is 14–20 degrees even in September; the first time it is surprisingly cold
- After a winter storm electricity and the internet may not come back for a day; clear the balcony before a storm
- Do not trust a forecast more than three days ahead — beyond that it is an average of past years
How it went for people
The bronchitis would not clear up for two months — until they moved the wardrobe
For two months a family searched for the cause of their dog's chronic cough and tried everything they could think of, until they moved a wardrobe: the wall behind it was covered in mould. They moved house — and within a month it all cleared up by itself. The case is worth remembering for anyone who has a cough at home in winter that goes away outdoors: check the corners, the window reveals and the wall behind the furniture first, and only then look for an allergy. July 2026.
After a winter storm the connection came back only three days later
A winter storm tore down everything that was not properly fixed in the town and around it, and left the area without a connection as well. One person with a cheap unlimited mobile plan got a signal from time to time, while neighbours on other operators only got the internet back on the third day or later. The practical conclusion: home internet and mobile networks go down together in a storm, and a charged power bank for your phone is more useful in winter than you might think. August 2026.
Retold in our own words from messages in open chats. The link leads to the full original message.