Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Canary Wharf hotter than Canary Islands
"Britons are basking in glorious sunshine with temperatures set to beat holiday resorts such as Ibiza and the Canary Islands.", say ITV.
Yeah, but not for long! Yesterday, my neighbour and I were discussing the fact that real summer is late here this year. We were joking that it probably wasn't coming until October, but then this morning, the swallows were out ducking and diving - actually they were dive-bombing the garden, much to the amusement of my cats - which, at this latitude, denotes that summer is arriving in earnest.
When it becomes too hot here, it's time for them to move north.
In the absence of air-con, it will soon be time to black out the windows and even avoid opening them so that the oven-heated hot air does not enter.
This time of year and especially in August, is when the north of Tenerife, particularly valleys at the intermediate altitudes, where the sea breeze doesn't reach, can be overpoweringly hotter than the south of the island.
Last year here, I had to terminate my attempt to find out what the temperature really was on my patio - at some point in the high 40's - because the plastic mount behind the thermometer began to melt and curl at the edges!
Usually, the islands go on alert if the temperature rises above 40C, but this year we have been promised some short heatwaves, but nothing like the extreme weather we all had in 2003 (2004 and 2005 were hot enough). We'll see.
Canary Wharf hotter than Canary Islands
