In January 2026

Pico do Areeiro stood out as the station with the highest precipitation

The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) publishes today a summary of the main meteorological data for January 2026, simultaneously updating the respective Dashboard. This information¹ is provided by the Delegation of the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere I.P. (IPMA I.P.) in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (RAM).

Air Temperature

In January, the highest mean air temperature was recorded at the Lugar de Baixo station (17.5 °C), whilst the lowest occurred at the Pico do Areeiro station (4.9 °C).

Compared to the climatological normals² for January, all stations for which this analysis was possible (7 stations) presented values above the reference values. The Santo da Serra station stands out, with a deviation of +1.7 °C from its respective climatological normal (9.8 °C).

Regarding extreme air temperatures, the absolute maximum temperature was recorded at the São Vicente station (25.2 °C, on the 31^st), and the absolute minimum temperature at the Pico do Areeiro station (-2.4 °C, on the 19^th).

Precipitation

In January, the highest total precipitation value was recorded at the Pico do Areeiro meteorological station (657.8 mm). It was also at this station that the highest daily precipitation value was observed, with 215.1 mm recorded on the 1^st. In contrast, the lowest monthly value occurred at the Selvagem Grande station (6.9 mm).

Compared to the 1961–1990 climatological normal for January, the Chão do Areeiro station stands out, with a positive anomaly of +153.9 mm. The Porto Santo/Airport and Funchal/Observatory stations also recorded positive deviations, but with lower values (+35.5 mm and +3.2 mm, respectively). The remaining stations presented negative deviations compared to their respective normal values.

Regarding the number of days with precipitation, the highest number of rainy days (days with precipitation equal to or above 0.1 mm) was recorded at the Santo da Serra station, with 26 days. The highest number of rainy days (precipitation equal to or above 1.0 mm) occurred at the Prazeres station, with 19 days, whilst the highest number of very rainy days (precipitation equal to or above 10.0 mm) was recorded at the Pico do Areeiro station, with 12 days.

Relative Humidity

In January, the monthly mean values of relative air humidity ranged between 67% at the Funchal/Observatory, Lugar de Baixo and Quinta Grande stations and 95%, at the Santo da Serra station.

The daily minimum value of relative air humidity was recorded at the Pico do Areeiro station, at 7% on the 14^th, whilst the maximum value (100%) was reached at 11 stations on different days of the month.

Wind

In January, among the meteorological stations equipped with an anemometer, the highest mean wind speed was recorded at the Selvagem Grande station, at 29.6 km/h, whilst the lowest occurred at the Monte station, at 4.9 km/h.

The maximum wind gust was recorded at the Selvagem Grande station, at 122 km/h, on the 3^rd.

Sunshine

In January, the number of hours of sunshine was 171.0 hours at the Funchal/Observatory station, a value above the respective climatological normal (140.4 hours).

At the Santa Catarina/Airport³ station, 165.6 hours of sunshine were recorded, whilst at Porto Santo/Airport the value was 143.9 hours, also above the climatological normal for this station (134.9 hours).

Sea Water

In January, the mean sea water temperature, measured at Molhe da Pontinha (Funchal), was 18.7 °C, a value 0.4 °C above the respective climatological normal for this month.

The highest daily mean temperature was recorded on the 1^st, at 19.4 °C, whilst the lowest (17.9 °C) occurred on the 28^th and 29^th of January.

Notes:

¹ – Daily data and monthly accumulated values refer to observations from 09:00 to 09:00.

² – The 1971–2000 normals are used for the Porto Santo/Airport and Funchal/Observatory stations. For the remaining stations, the 1961–1990 normals are used.

³ – No climatological normal values for sunshine are available for the Santa Catarina/Airport station.

 

For further details, please visit:

• Dashboard (Portuguese only)

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