page_title: Póvoa de Varzim
section_title: Climate
hierarchical_section_title: Póvoa de Varzim / Geography / Climate
caption_attribution_description: English: Port of Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal
context_page_description: Póvoa de Varzim is a Portuguese city in Northern Portugal and sub-region of Greater Porto, 30 km from its city centre. It sits in a sandy coastal plain, a cuspate foreland, halfway between the Minho and Douro rivers. In 2001, there were 63,470 inhabitants, with 42,396 living in the city proper. The city expanded, southwards, to Vila do Conde, and there are about 100,000 inhabitants in the urban area alone. It is the seventh-largest urban agglomeration in Portugal and the third largest in Northern Portugal.
  Permanent settlement in Póvoa de Varzim dates back to around four to six thousand years ago; around 900 BC, unrest in the region led to the establishment of Cividade de Terroso, a fortified city, which developed maritime trade routes with the civilizations of classical antiquity. Modern Póvoa de Varzim emerged after the conquest by the Roman Republic of the city by 138 BC; fishing and fish processing units soon developed, which became the foundations of the local economy.
context_section_description: Póvoa's climate is classified as a Warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb in the Köppen climate classification system), with gentle summers and mild winters, influenced by the Atlantic ocean. Temperature extremes recorded at Sá Carneiro Airport, records started in 1967, range from −3.8 °C (25.2 °F) to 38.3 °C (100.9 °F). In Póvoa de Varzim proper, average temperatures oscillate between 9 °C (48.2 °F) in winter and 19 °C (66.2 °F) in the summer. The city's beach area averages between 11 °C (51.8 °F) and 18 °C (64.4 °F) and diurnal temperature variation there is very low, just 4 °C (39.2 °F). The remaining territory, including the northwestern rural beaches, swings around 8 °C (46.4 °F) daily. Using 1971-2000 data, there are 33 days a year above 25 °C (77.0 °F) and 9 days above 30 °C (86.0 °F). Heat waves can occur for an average of 10 days, yet it tends to be balmier than inland Northwestern Portugal, and it is used by inland Minho Province residents seeking to escape the summer heat in the valleys. The so-called tropical nights with minimum temperature above 20 °C (68 °F) occur three days per year.
  There are no full-days below freezing, yet temperatures below 0 °C (32.0 °F) can occur at the height of winter during the night and early morning. The city possesses a microclimate and is considered the region least subject to frosts in all northern Portugal. Cold waves are absent and snowfall is firmly uncommon, the last occurred in January 1986. More recently, snowfall occurred inland. This is due to the winter maritime winds that normally blow from the south and southwest. Most of the rain is concentrated in the winter months, due to the Azores High which influences the subsidence of the air resulting in dry air during the summer. Topography and distance from the sea influences precipitation even at short distances. The urban core receives over 900 millimetres (35 in), the outskirts can get up to 1,200 millimetres (47 in) of rain per year,  while the city's countryside can get up to 1,500 millimetres (59 in).
  The prevailing northern winds, known as Nortadas, arise in the summer after midday. Strongest wind gusts are felt in the city's sands and only reaching inland in municipalities south of Póvoa de Varzim. During the summer, a mass of hot and wet air, brought by the south and western maritime winds, creates Póvoa de Varzim's characteristic fog covering only the coast and with strong ocean scent brought in by the marine layer, which is composed of salt from surf and sea spray, with lesser amounts of iodine from the outlying kelp forests. Southerly winds can sporadically bring the Saharan Air Layer and Saharan dust can form a thick plume blocking the sun.
  Sunshine duration values are high, between April and September the mean is always over 217 hours, peaking in July with 308 hours. The gloomiest months are December and January with 124 hours each (1961–1990 data). Solar irradiance is high in the city's beaches, and lower inland and in the northwestern coast.
caption: Port of Póvoa de Varzim breakwaters. Blue skies are common between April and September, with sunshine probability above 60%, peaking in the summer, nearing 80%. The rest of the year averages 50%.
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