Rain and thunder return this afternoon, with a wet week ahead

November 6, 2026, Portugal

Morning. It's Friday, 6 November. Lisbon 20° · Porto 17° · Faro 21°, with rain and thunder arriving in the north and centre this afternoon and yellow warnings in eight districts. Let's get into it.

📰 THE MAIN STORY

The dry spell ends today. IPMA, the national weather service, has issued yellow warnings for rain, at times heavy and with thunder, from 3pm until midnight in eight districts: Viana do Castelo, Braga, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra, Leiria, Lisbon and Setúbal. Yellow is the lowest of three warning levels. In the Azores, the eastern group, São Miguel and Santa Maria, has a yellow warning for heavy rain from 9pm local time.

Behind it is Bruna, a deep Atlantic low that IPMA has named, the first storm of the season. The north and centre get the worst of it first, while the Algarve stays mostly dry until Sunday. From Sunday, rain becomes persistent across the mainland, with gusts of up to 70 km/h on the west coast and high ground, and waves of 4 to 5 metres on the west coast on Monday, according to IPMA, reported by DN and Lusa. Rain could pass 200 mm in mountain areas by Friday 13 November. In Madeira, yellow warnings for rain and wind run from noon tomorrow, with gusts of up to 110 km/h in the mountains.

What it means for you: the usual civil protection advice, repeated this week in Madeira:

Watch out for: outdoor events this weekend may change plans at short notice, so check before you go.

There's a local twist. Next Wednesday is São Martinho, which tradition links to the verão de São Martinho, a short spell of mild, sunny weather around 11 November. If the forecast holds, it may not show up this year. IPMA expects unsettled weather until at least Friday 13 November and will issue new warnings as needed.

In short: keep an umbrella by the door, clear your drains, and check IPMA before weekend plans.

⚡ IN BRIEF

Cristiano Ronaldo announced yesterday, in a video on social media, that he is leaving Portugal's national team. "The day has come to give back the number 7 shirt that belongs to all of us," he said, reported by DN. He leaves with 234 caps and 146 goals, the most in men's international football, and a European Championship title from 2016. The FPF, the Portuguese Football Federation, called him the "eternal captain" and says it will organise a tribute worthy of his career, with no date set yet.

President António José Seguro and Prime Minister Luís Montenegro both thanked him publicly. Expect it to be the talk of every café this weekend.

Foreign residents who break public order rules at the housing protests could have their residence permits cancelled and 20 days to leave the country, Rui Armindo Freitas, the government member responsible for immigration, told parliament during a budget hearing, reported by Expresso. According to The Portugal News, the warning concerns conduct judged a threat to public order, not taking part in a protest as such. The STM, the union of staff at AIMA, the immigration agency, called the remarks "irresponsible" and "dangerous", and the party Livre said the right to protest applies to everyone, whatever their nationality.

No new law has been proposed. Housing protests have taken place across the country since 10 October.

The education minister, Fernando Alexandre, wants maths to be compulsory for every secondary pupil from Year 10 to Year 12, on academic and vocational courses alike, reported by The Portugal News. The plan goes to public consultation by December and would not take effect until the 2028/2029 school year. The government also wants to merge the first two cycles of school, Years 1 to 6, with a pilot in some schools from September 2027.

These are proposals, not law yet. If your children are in Portuguese schools, nothing changes this year.

📍 WORTH THE TRIP

Step out of the narrow lanes into the square by the fort and the Ria Formosa, the lagoon and nature park along the eastern Algarve coast, spreads out below, with a long sandbar between the water and the sea. Cacela Velha is a tiny whitewashed village on a low rise, about 15 minutes by car from Tavira and 45 from Faro. It peaked under Muslim rule, when it was called Hisn-Qastallah, and the 1755 earthquake left it in ruins, so most people moved inland to Vila Nova de Cacela.

The whole village takes about 15 minutes to walk. Its streets are named after poets who wrote about it, among them Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen and Eugénio de Andrade, and the church, rebuilt after 1755, keeps its Renaissance doorway. The fort houses a GNR post, the national guard, so it's closed to visitors. The catch: at low tide you can walk across to the beach, but the rising tide can reach chest height, and the small boats from Sítio da Fábrica only run from May to October.

Before you go: there's a car park near the village and another at Sítio da Fábrica. The Vamus bus 67 from Faro to Vila Real de Santo António stops at Cacela. Check the tide times before walking to the beach.

Local tip: Casa da Igreja, by the churchyard, is known for its oysters, 12 for €16.80. It takes no bookings, so expect a queue at lunchtime.

Find it here: Google Maps

WORD OF THE DAY

Say it: uh-gwuh-SAY-roo

Meaning: a shower, rain that comes and goes

“Leva o guarda-chuva, vêm aí aguaceiros.”
Take your umbrella, there are showers on the way.

You'll hear it on every TV forecast this week and see it in IPMA's warnings, usually in the plural. Chuva is rain in general. In Brazil, people more often say pancada de chuva.

North

Centre

South

Islands

Save the date

Até amanhã,

Gabriel - DailyPortugal