Storm Bruna is just getting started

Storm Bruna reaches mainland Portugal today. It’s Sunday, 8 November. Twenty degrees. Air quality: 30 (Good). Here’s what you need to know.

🗞️ TOP STORY

STORM BRUNA REACHES THE MAINLAND, WITH RAIN AND WIND FORECAST UNTIL FRIDAY

Storm Bruna, a deep Atlantic low centred north of the Azores, is due to send its first weather front across mainland Portugal early today. IPMA, the national weather service, expects more fronts to follow at least until Friday, 13 November, bringing persistent and at times heavy rain, possible thunderstorms, strong southerly winds and rough seas. Forecasts get less certain from Wednesday.

Madeira took the first hit. Dozens of flights were cancelled at Madeira’s airport yesterday because of the wind, and the whole archipelago was put under orange warnings, the second-highest level, for rain and wind. Gusts were forecast to reach 100 km/h (about 60 mph) on the coast and 130 km/h (about 80 mph) in the mountains, with waves of up to 4.5 metres along the south coast from this afternoon until early Monday. The Marítimo football team’s plane couldn’t land in Funchal to pick them up, so their match against Estoril, due today, has been postponed.

On the mainland, the worst is expected between today and Tuesday, mainly in the north and centre. The northwest and the mountains could get 90 to 120mm of rain over those days, and up to around 200mm in the northern highlands by Friday. Gusts of up to 70 km/h (about 45 mph) are forecast on the west coast and high ground, and waves off the west coast are expected to build to 4 to 5 metres on Monday, with 2 to 3 metres along the Algarve. Civil Protection hasn’t singled out any towns, but areas with a history of flooding, above all in the Minho and Douro Litoral, are seen as most at risk.

Lisbon sits south of the heaviest rain, but rain and stronger wind are still expected over the coming days. Low-lying streets and roads with poor drainage are the most likely to flood in a downpour, and Monday’s big swell is a reason to keep away from sea walls and coastal paths along the Cascais and Ericeira coast. The weather also coincides with Web Summit, which brings tens of thousands of visitors to Parque das Nações from Monday to Thursday. Anyone flying to or from Madeira should check with their airline before heading to the airport. IPMA issues warnings district by district as each front approaches, so they’re the best guide to which days will be worst.

Bottom line: most of Portugal is in for a wet, windy week, with the north and centre hit hardest and big waves on the west coast on Monday.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Lisbon’s mayor has ordered the housing protesters in Rossio to move out to make way for the Christmas market, and the dispute is back in court. In an order signed on Friday, Carlos Moedas told the camp, still around 100 tents strong, to relocate to Largo de São Domingos, Martim Moniz or Restauradores. He was acting on advice from the PSP, the national police, which concluded that the camp and the market couldn’t safely share the square, citing crowding, noise and the market’s difficulty getting insurance. Baixa traders want the market kept in its usual place and say the camp is costing them money. On Friday afternoon, the municipal police told Renata Cambra, the activist who won an earlier court ruling letting her keep a tent in Rossio until 24 November, the day of the final budget vote, that the tents would be removed. Her lawyers responded with a fresh court application that has put the removal on hold, arguing that the mayor’s order can’t override a judge’s ruling. Six academics and public figures, including the economist Susana Peralta and the former MEP Ana Gomes, have urged Moedas to meet both sides. The movement says it will also take its protest to Web Summit. Meanwhile, camps were due to go up in Faro and Portimão yesterday as the protests spread to the Algarve. In Portimão, organisers say many homes are rented to residents only from September to May, then handed over to tourists for the summer.

Portugal has approved a plan to halve the number of people killed or seriously injured on its roads by 2030. The Vision Zero 2030 strategy, signed off by the Council of Ministers after a public consultation, measures progress against 2019. Its aim is to cut road deaths on the mainland from 626 a year to 313, and serious injuries from 2,089 to 1,044, with zero of both by 2050. Portugal still has more road deaths than much of Europe, with 61 per million people in 2023, a third above the EU average. The strategy targets speeding, drink- and drug-driving, phones at the wheel and fatigue, along with seatbelt and helmet use, safer crossings, accident black spots and rural roads. Among its goals, the share of drivers keeping to the speed limit should rise from 74% to 85%, and rear-seat seatbelt use from 78% to 95%. For now, though, it’s a set of targets rather than new rules. The actual measures, with their costs and timetables, will come in two two-year action plans, and the first check on progress is due in 2027.

Portugal is to host a simulated mission to Mars next spring. For two weeks, from 5 to 18 April, six “analogue astronauts”, people who rehearse space missions on Earth, will live and work in Monsaraz, in the Évora district, as if they were on the red planet. They’ll carry out 17 experiments wearing 50kg simulated spacesuits, and every message to mission control in Vienna will be deliberately delayed by ten minutes, roughly the time a radio signal takes between Mars and Earth. The mission is run by the Austrian Space Forum and commanded by João Lousada, a Portuguese mission manager at the European Space Agency. The rest of the crew comes from the UK, Germany, Italy and Sweden, and the University of Évora and the Portuguese space company Tekever are among the partners.

If your moisturizer isn’t working quite like it used to, you’re not alone. As we age, our skin shifts below the surface—losing the collagen, elastin, hyaluronic acid, and barrier integrity it needs to stay hydrated and firm. This leads to thinner, weaker skin that struggles to retain moisture, no matter how many “hydrating” creams you apply.

But OneSkin’s new OS-01 FACE RICH CREAM is built differently. While most moisturizers sit on the skin’s surface and wash off at the end of the day, OS-01 FACE RICH CREAM works at the cellular level to actually rebuild the density that allows skin to hold onto moisture. It’s powered by a Dual-Phase Hydration System, combining potent bioactive humectants with OneSkin’s age-reversing OS-01 Peptide™ to promote healthier collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid production, and fortify the skin barrier. The results: deep, lasting hydration and progressive visible firmness—for resilient skin that keeps up with you.

Save an extra 15% with code RICH15

A quick note: today’s ad comes from one of our network partners, One Skin. Partnerships like this one are what keep The Lisbon Letter free to read every morning, and we thank them for it.

🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

TEMPO DELI (ESTRELA)

It feels like a corner deli in New York, which is the point. Berrak Atik and Nikola Jovanovic, the couple behind it, lived there for a decade, and in the small room on Rua Domingos Sequeira a big framed map of the city hangs over red-topped tables, metal grocery shelves and a tiled floor. The shelves are stocked with Italian meats, Portuguese olive oil, tinned fish and pasta, and the staff know plenty of customers by name.

The sandwich to order is the Italian-American one, a stack of mortadella, salami, ham and provolone with roasted pepper, pickled onion, rocket and house mayonnaise. There’s a vegetarian version with roasted aubergine, mozzarella, pesto and a balsamic glaze, a dill mayo sandwich with turkey, Swiss cheese and pickles, and a slightly spicy honey mustard one with smoked turkey and jalapeños. The newest addition is a New York-style bacon, egg and cheese, added after a regular asked for it. On the side, there’s pão de queijo, a mozzarella cup that can be topped up with mortadella or olives, and cookies from Bake Bros, with filter coffee from Ombra Coffee Roasters.

Sandwiches cost €12.50 to €13.50, which is a lot for lunch in Lisbon, and with a small team, there can be a wait at busy times. It’s open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm, so it’s for lunch rather than dinner.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: the house sauces and preserves are sold in jars to take home, so the pickled onion can go home with you.

📅 WHAT’S ON

See you tomorrow morning.

Reach Lisbon’s English-speaking community, every morning. Advertise.