More calimas and storms in the Canary Islands

Before we leave the current discussion about Tenerife weather, I thought you might like to know that the director of Tenerife's Observatorio Meteorológico de Izaña (Izaña Meteorological Observatory), Emilio Cuevas, said yesterday - during a break in a meeting - that, "In the Canaries we have the good luck to be surrounded by ocean."

Yes, I couldn't help thinking that if he's just noticed that, it must be about time that the poor man took a holiday, perhaps down to the coast, instead of being stuck in an observatory, up a mountain. But I digress ...

This, he says, will mitigate the effects of global warming, although we will notice greater levels of calima (Saharan Air Layer), caused by the displacement to the east of the Anticiclón de las Azores (The Azores High. See: Anticyclone and Calentamiento Global, Anticiclón de las Azores, "Efecto Ártico") and, that the warmer and more humid atmosphere that will probably be installed in the islands (ED: I thought this atmosphere had already been "installed") could make it more inclined that there will be "more probabilities that a storm such as Delta appears again."

The repetitive could / probably / maybe wording was in the original.

Interesting to note that while ABC's headline is Más calima y riesgo de tormentas (More calimas and risk of storms), elsewhere, the same news, reporting on the same comments made by weatherman Cuevas, appear under the more optimistic headline, Canarias será la región donde menos subirán las temperaturas por el cambio climático (The Canaries will be the region where the temperatures rise least from climate change.)

Depends whether you see the glass as half-full or half-empty. Some might say the occasional "surprise hurricane" is a small price to pay for being, generally, less affected than other regions. Both are probably, technically, true, but I can only tell you what I'm already seeing in recent years (after 15 years on this island): more calimas and damaging storms.

The good news, for tourism and for visitors is that the Canary Islands could / probably / maybe less buggered up by the now inevitable climate change / global warming than they might have been if they had not been sitting in the middle of an ocean. Then they wouldn't be islands ...