The summers can be unbearably hot with coastal sea breezes offering relief from the baking heat. Winters are mild and damp. The Atlantic is cooler and much rougher than the Mediterranean. The further south you go the warmer it gets. The Algarve faces south and enjoys the best of the country's climate.
Hurricanes are a problem in late summer and autumn .
The country can be affected by the Sirocco, a hot dry southerly wind that blows out from Africa. The north has cold winters and warm summers. January and February tend to be the driest months but rainfall is fairly evenly spread. The south has cool, wet winters with warm and fairly dry summers. Cold, damp winters with frost almost daily from December to March.