News 6 November 2026

Storm Bruna brings a week of rain to Portugal, with 4-5 metre waves on the west coast from Monday

IPMA forecasts rain, wind and rough seas on the mainland from Sunday until 13 November, with more than 200 mm possible in the mountains, gusts up to 70 km/h and waves of 4 to 5 metres on the west coast from Monday. Eight districts go on yellow alert from 3pm on Friday.

Put the flip-flops away. From Sunday, mainland Portugal is in for a full week of rain, wind and heavy seas from a low-pressure system north of the Azores that has been named Bruna. Portugal’s weather service, IPMA, expects it to last until at least Friday 13 November, which puts São Martinho, the chestnut-roasting feast on Wednesday the 11th, right in the middle of it.

Yellow warnings from this afternoon

The warm-up comes first. Viana do Castelo, Braga, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra, Leiria, Lisbon and Setúbal go under a yellow rain warning, the lowest of three levels, from 3pm on Friday until midnight. The live map is on IPMA’s weather warnings page.

How the week looks

According to IPMA’s forecast as reported by Lusa:

Saturday: a south-westerly swell of one to two metres on the west coast.
Sunday: a weather front arrives in the early hours, bringing persistent, at times heavy rain and possible thunderstorms. Southerly winds pick up, gusting to 70 km/h on the west coast and high ground.
Monday: waves build to four to five metres on the west coast and two to three in the Algarve.
Through 13 November: one front after another, with the heaviest rain arriving with them. In the mountains, totals could top 200 millimetres.

For scale, 200 millimetres is 200 litres of water on every square metre, in little more than a week.

Weekend plans

Saturday is the safer bet for anything outdoors. If you are heading to the Golegã horse fair or the wine festival in Arruda dos Vinhos, expect rain from Sunday. Chestnut roasts on the 11th will probably want a roof.

Madeira already has warnings for rain, wind and rough seas, with another heavy swell due at the weekend. IPMA says it will issue further warnings as needed.

By Marta Carneiro

Image: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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