Weather conditions to improve after wildfire causes 'calamity' in Portugal's only national park
As several massive wildfires continue to rage across Spain and Portugal, improving weather conditions may help firefighters contain the blazes during this week.
Cooler air has already knocked heat down from record levels across Spain and Portugal that was felt during the past week.
The cooler air has allowed the thousands of firefighters to gain an upper hand on some of the blazes.
Fires have burned 100,000 acres in Spain so far this year and nearly 265,000 acres in Portugal, according to Agence France-Presse.
More than 3,000 firefighters battled 80 active fires on Wednesday, according to Portugal's civil protection agency. Eleven large fires continue to burn across the country.
A fire tore through Portugal's only national park, Peneda-Geres, near the Spain border and caused severe damage.
"Pastures have burned, there is nothing for livestock to eat," the deputy mayor of the border town of Arcos de Valdevez, Helder Barros, said, according to The Telegraph.
"It is a calamity for the natural park, the only one in Portugal, and for tourism," he said.
A fire in Spain caused the evacuation of around 1,400 people from the popular resort of Benidorm. More than 300 firefighters and 65 vehicles were utilized to fight the fire, according to the Associated Press.
"Big changes will arrive Monday night into Tuesday as rain moves in across Portugal and western Spain," AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys said.
The rain may be quite heavy as it passes through. While rain will be seen as beneficial to some, it may fall heavy enough to cause issues in some areas.
"There will be a risk for flash flooding as some areas will see rainfall rates over 25 millimeters (1 inch) per hour," Roys said.
Along with rain, temperatures will continue to fall on Tuesday and reach below-normal levels across the majority of Spain and Portugal by Wednesday and Thursday.
The combination of significant cooling and beneficial rainfall will yield improved conditions for firefighters. In addition, the threat for other fires to spark will diminish.
The rain event may last several days and could result in 25-75 mm (1-3 inches) of rainfall across northern Portugal and northern Spain this week.
Rainfall totals of 12-25 mm (0.50-1.00 inch) are possible in southern Portugal and central and eastern Spain. Less rainfall is anticipated in southern and southeast Spain.
" Madrid looks to be on the western edge of the heaviest rain," Roys said.
While gusts near 50 km/h (30 mph) are possible with the storm system, lower temperatures and rainfall will offset any negative effects of the wind across the region.
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