Summer of Lead
In the heart of the country, in the plains around Beja or Évora, temperatures in summer easily climb to 40°C in the hottest years. However, as we know, these are multiplying and every year (or almost every year) temperature records are recorded. In July 1995, a temperature of 46.5°C (in the shade!) was recorded in Amaraleja, in the district of Beja. If you travel in summer, this is not a detail. Because it is the heat that will most often decide your daily schedule. Most of the time, because the weather is... always nice, in the south of the country, in this season, it can take months before the slightest storm comes to water the ground and refresh men and animals. And we sometimes dream of rain or simply of a day of light... Hats, sunglasses, water reserves are therefore indispensable resources! Don't plan long car trips in the middle of the day, or else the straight lines of the Alentejano plain will seem endless... Reserve bike rides and long walks for the first hours of the morning or the last hours of the afternoon. The rest of the time, prefer to take a nap in the shelter of thick walls, in the shade of old buildings, or take refuge under the trees while waiting for it to get better! For those who stay on the coast, the ocean breeze will help you to bear the heat. A few kilometers away, there is often several degrees of difference between the coast and the interior! And if you are too hot, the sea is there to cool you down: even in the heat, the temperature of the Atlantic remains... invigorating!
Winter of feathers
In winter, the climate of the Alentejo remains mild, thanks to the intervention of the famous Azores anticyclone, the Portuguese islands in the Atlantic that gave their name to the meteorological phenomenon that protects the country from oceanic disturbances and storms. The temperature can frequently reach 15°C during the day and one is often surprised to take out one's hat to shelter from the sun! On the other hand, temperatures can drop during the night, very rarely below zero, during the months of December and January. In the small mountain ranges of Alentejo, such as the São Mamede mountain range or the Arraiolos mountain range, the thermometer drops more commonly below zero, between December and March, and snow sometimes makes its appearance. Walking in the snow in the Alentejo sun is a privilege reserved for true connoisseurs... As for the rain, if it knows how to wait, it reserves some surprises for those who had forgotten it! In a few minutes, at the end of the summer and in autumn in particular, as if the sky opened up suddenly and finally agreed to cool the earth, it happens that waterspouts generate floods and mudslides, which take away everything in their path..
