Lisbon or Madrid: which climate?
Lisbon (Portugal) has a warm-summer mediterranean climate, whereas Madrid (Spain) has a hot-summer mediterranean climate, according to the Köppen-Geiger classification.
The values compared here are normals computed over 86 complete calendar years, from 1940 to 2025, using ERA5 reanalysis data from the Copernicus programme. The same method and the same period apply to Lisbon and to Madrid.
Lisbon is warmer than Madrid by 1.8 °C in annual average: 16.0 °C against 14.2 °C.
Lisbon gets more rain than Madrid: 586 mm per year against 430 mm.
Madrid has warmed by +2.4 °C between 1940 and 2025, against +0.8 °C in Lisbon. Madrid is therefore warming faster than Lisbon. Both trends are statistically significant.
Lisbon averages 2 hot days (≥ 30 °C) and 0 frost days per year; Madrid averages 65 and 39.
Data from ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus Climate Change Service), redistributed under a CC-BY 4.0 licence. Normals are recomputed whenever the archive is updated.
| Indicator | Lisbon | Madrid | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily temperature | 16.0 °C | 14.2 °C | -1.8 °C |
| Average daily high | 18.6 °C | 19.8 °C | +1.2 °C |
| Average daily low | 13.7 °C | 8.7 °C | -5.0 °C |
| Annual rainfall | 586 mm | 430 mm | -156 mm |
| Sunshine / day | 10.5 h | 10.3 h | negligible |
| Hot days (≥ 30 °C) | 2 d/yr | 65 d/yr | +63 d/yr |
| Frost days (< 0 °C) | 0 d/yr | 39 d/yr | +39 d/yr |
| Rainy days (≥ 1 mm) | 82 d/yr | 72 d/yr | -10 d/yr |
| Mean relative humidity | 78 % | 61 % | -17 % |
| Average peak wind | 23.3 km/h | 13.5 km/h | -9.8 km/h |
A difference is only reported when it exceeds the resolution of the data. ERA5 is a reanalysis on a grid of about 31 km: two nearby cities often fall in the same cell, and below half a degree you are reading the grid, not the climate.