You are probably asking yourself how is the weather in Lisbon. Should you bring a winter jacket ? How is the temperature in January ? Are the house equipped with air conditioner or heaters ? As I am living in Lisbon since September, I already experienced most of the seasons.
Lisbon is 1400 km from Paris. For a Portuguese student Paris equals North Pole and this is not without any reason. Indeed, the lowest temperature in Lisbon is probably 10 during the day and 5 during the night, so you can only imagine the reaction of my Portuguese classmates when I told them that in France it was -5 on January.
When I arrived on the 3rd of September in Lisbon I foresaw : in fact, I was reasonable to choose shorts instead of jeans, because it was 40 degrees. And then for one month the sun continued to shine, it was between 40 and 45 every single day. The nights were terrible, thus fresh air was missing ! In my opinion it was the best way to start an amazing Erasmus year.
Then in October it felt like July in France : it was still warm. Every free afternoon pushed us to go to the beach, the only way to cool down our body. Sometimes the 30 degrees were so tempting... but then we realized that we had class during the day and homework to do.
November was between 20 and 25 degrees. I was wondering if winter existed in Portugal. Actually, a lot of citizens told us that these temperatures were unexpected, so according to their tales this year was the right one. And suddenly, winter appeared... at least during the night. Since there are approximately 250 days of good weather in a year, you need to understand that most of the buildings, houses, flats are not equipped with heaters. So, let me assure you that when it is 7 degrees the all night and that you only have one blanket, you are suddenly freezing.
In December I went to buy a heater : I could not bear the cold and the humidity at night in the flat. It costed me around 20 euros to get an electric heater. If you want to keep this money for something else, then I advice you to put your money into warm pyjamas and thick blankets ! Nevertheless, days in December were sunny, some rain few times, but mainly 15 degrees until I left to France for Christmas.
When I came back in January, the humidity was everywhere. Even if it was not so cold during the day, the nights were quite terrible sometimes. And for the last half of the month it just rained every day... Fortunately, February and March announced the arrival of the sun. And now it is enough to wear an autumn jacket and sunglasses !
