In December 2025

Chão do Areeiro recorded the highest precipitation, although it remained below the climatological normal

The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) today publishes a summary of the main meteorological data for December 2025, simultaneously updating the respective dashboard. This information¹ is provided by the Delegation of the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA I.P.) in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM).

Air Temperature
In December 2025, the highest average temperature (18.7 °C) was recorded at the Lugar de Baixo station, while the lowest average temperature was observed at Pico do Areeiro (5.4 °C).

Compared with the December climatological normals², of the seven stations for which data were available, almost all recorded above-normal values, particularly the Santo da Serra station, which registered 1.3 °C above the normal (10.4 °C). In contrast, the Santana station recorded a value slightly below the normal (-0.1 °C).

Regarding absolute maximum and minimum temperatures recorded in December, the highest temperature was 24.2 °C at Porto Moniz station (on the 9^th), while the lowest was -1.0 °C at Pico do Areeiro (on the 28^th).

Precipitation
In December 2025, the highest total precipitation was recorded at Chão do Areeiro (371.5 mm), which also observed the highest daily precipitation of the month (99.7 mm on the 14^th).

Compared with the 1961–1990 climatological normal for December, positive deviations were recorded at four stations, the highest being at Funchal/Observatory (+39.6 mm). The remaining three stations showed negative anomalies, notably Chão do Areeiro, which, despite being the rainiest station of the month, recorded a deviation of -76.2 mm relative to the average.

Analysing the number of days with precipitation (days with rain, rainy days, and very rainy days), Santo da Serra stood out with the highest number of days with precipitation (29 days with ≥ 0.1 mm). The highest number of rainy days was observed at Chão do Areeiro (20 days with ≥ 1.0 mm). Additionally, Chão do Areeiro and Prazeres recorded 9 very rainy days, with precipitation equal to or exceeding 10 mm.

Relative Humidity
In December 2025, the monthly mean relative humidity ranged from 59% at Quinta Grande to 95% at Santo da Serra. The daily minimum, 2%, was recorded at Pico do Areeiro on the 10^th, while the maximum, 100%, was observed at eleven stations on different days throughout the month.

Wind
Among stations equipped with anemometers, the highest average wind intensity in December 2025 was recorded at Selvagem Grande (27.7 km/h), while the lowest occurred at Monte station (5.5 km/h). The highest gust of the month was observed on the 12^th at Chão do Areeiro, reaching 147 km/h.

Sunshine
In December 2025, total sunshine (number of hours of bright sunshine) reached 152.7 hours at Funchal/Observatory, above the climatological normal (134.4 hours). At Porto Santo, 137.2 hours were recorded, also above the normal (132.9 hours), while at Santa Catarina/Airport³, 132.1 hours were observed.

Sea water temperature
In December, the average sea water temperature measured at Molhe da Pontinha (Funchal) was 20.2 °C, 0.7 °C above the climatological normal for this month. The highest daily average temperature was recorded on the 1^st and 2^nd (21.2 °C), and the lowest, 19.5 °C, on the 31^st.

Notes:
¹ Daily data and monthly accumulated values refer to observations from 09:00 to 09:00.
² Climatological normals 1971–2000 were used for Porto Santo/Airport and Funchal/Observatory; for the other stations, the 1961–1990 normals were used.
³ There are no normal values for sunshine duration available for the Santa Catarina/Airport station.

For further details, please visit:

• Dashboard (Portuguese only)

Back

• Prev
• Next