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As Un vistazo a Santa Cruz de Tenerife say, we don't want to appear like the Canarian Government who have been doing The Boy Who Cried Wolf with every weather warning since Delta ... but they have received reports of very heavy rains, hurricane strength winds and a powerful electrical storm over the mid-east part of the island of La Palma. The Caldera there is especially dangerous.

Un vistazo continue that the worst of this weather is concentrated to the north of the islands and that it should pass Tenerife, considerably weakened. It's probably best to be cautious, or like my cats, tuck up in bed and stay there!

See the nasty clouds on the satellite image from earlier today

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The Canarian Government has declared the orange alert in the province of Santa Cruz to be over today, but the islands remain on pre-alert owing to the strong winds. The forecast from the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología (National Meteorological Institute) until 10 a.m. this morning, contemplates 70 kmph winds in the north west of the island of El Hierro. Gusts could reach up to 75 kmph in La Orotava and Vilaflor in Tenerife, until 6 p.m. today.

Meanwhile, the winds that have been whipping round the province, keeping it on alert since Sunday, have caused some material damages in La Laguna, according to this report, originally from the local corporation itself.

They say a greenhouse fell down and a road was momentarily closed in Punta Hidalgo, while firefighters had to deal with a fallen advertising hoarding at Tenerife's Los Rodeos airport. In another incident, a building site fence caused damages to one vehicle. And, "in the Camino de la Cordillera, in Guamasa, a wall and a tree came down, which were retired by a town hall digger, once the firefighters and local police had realized the opportune interventions."

What kind of "opportune interventions?" Was the tree wanted for questioning? Is the wall suspected of a crime? (The size and type of tree were not given!)

Labels: Tenerife Weather, Weather

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Today the air is clearer, though there's cloud in place of yesterday's dust and, according to the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología (National Meteorological Institute), there's a 5% chance of rain in Tenerife today and tomorrow. The temperature has notably dropped too, but before we leave the latest calima behind, here are more images of the increasingly frequent phenomenon.

Jack Montgomery of Real Tenerife Island Drives, writes on his blog that it would have been a sunny day in Puerto de la Cruz, had it not been for "the thickest 'calima' I've seen since moving here four years ago."

Jack shows us a photo of the Parque Taoro above Puerto.

The "old fashioned" lamps, as well as the thick, dust laden air make one think more of the smog in London in the days of Jack the Ripper (no relation).

Three more impressive photos of the calima for you to see at SlyNation. Just look at the size and density of the dust cloud coming off the Sahara in the first, satellite image. It's a wonder these islands haven't disappeared under it. The other two photos show an identical view, both with and without calima.

The comparison makes it easier to see and, is quite dramatic.


Official Weather Information for Tenerife

Also, by accident yesterday, I came across a site with very comprehensive weather information, TuTiempo.net.

Helps if you can read Spanish, but they use official data from the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología (National Meteorological Institute) in Spain and present it in lots of useful ways, including current weather data, last 24 hours, 7-day forecasts, historical weather data, sunrise and sunset times ...

Not only for North and South Tenerife (airports), but there are forecasts for a whole list of areas within Santa Cruz Province such as the resort areas of Adeje or Puerto de la Cruz and, which I've also seen nowhere else, major towns on other islands, such as Santa Cruz de la Palma or San Sebastián de la Gomera.

We offer you more Tenerife weather information here ...

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It was quite difficult to capture the feeling on camera really, but the photo above shows not mist nor cloud, which is far more frequent over these mountains, but haze from the Saharan dust or sand in suspension in the air, otherwise known as a calima and one of the most dense I've ever seen.

The south of Britain is basking in what The Times called balmy weather - 13.2C (55.8F) in London - beating the record for the warmest night in January.

The cause, "At this time of year the Sun is far too weak over Britain to raise temperatures this high. Instead, the source is warm air swept up from the Canary Islands on an anticyclone. " You're welcome to our anticyclone!

Yesterday, here everyone was gasping in temperatures akin to those we normally get in summer, coming as such a sudden and brisk change from "two woolly" weather the day before. And when the human body has become used to the constant "benign, spring-like" weather that Tenerife is supposed to have year round, then it just isn't equipped to cope with such sudden changes.

Meanwhile, an alert was declared at the weekend in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on the expectation of high winds of up to 100 kmph. 120 kmph winds caused damage on the island of El Hierro, where schools have been closed as a precaution and the island corporation are asking people to stay indoors.

Un vistazo a Santa Cruz de Tenerife blog currently have a satelite image of the calima, which will show you the plumes of dust coming off Africa.

Yet here on the north of the Tenerife, while there was apparently no air movement at all, even with windows open on one side of the house, on the other there was quite a noise of dry leaves dancing around in a circle on the patio.

Now, I don't want to be the harbinger of bad sh.. stuff, but the facts appear thus: that calimas provoke storms, which provoke calimas, which ... adnauseum.

And Santa Cruz Carnaval starts proper next week. And it always rains at some time when Santa Cruz Carnaval is on. Just so you know. :)

More Tenerife calima images

Photo: Pamela Heywood BDV-628142-BDV

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It's something I don't do nearly often enough, but ... According to Weather Underground, the north of Tenerife was today mostly cloudy, after earlier having scattered clouds. I'm not sure where they scattered them, because it certainly wasn't here - look - and we are usually the first to get "weather" in this valley.

This merely proves the "rule" that every time I say it's going to rain (er, based on official reports), the sun comes out. I'll just keep reporting forecasts of rain to ensure permanent sunny weather then! :)

Talking to my weekend only neighbour this morning, she told me that she was in the hairdressers on Friday and folk were saying that we're going get another storm like Delta. Now, either you can take it that this lady is well informed, as the wife of a Santa Cruz taxi driver must surely be, or you can conclude that "the people in the street", do fear that weather of that kind is liable to repeat. I'll opt for the second of those. We just don't know when and, judging by the accuracy (not) of weather forecasts lately, there seems a very good chance we'll never know.

Nevertheless, taking advantage while the sun shines, I decided to meander down to the market, then on to the village and that blue was how the sky was all the time. Walking back up the hill again was very hot work indeed and I was soaked in sweat when I got home. In November?

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Canarias24horas alerted us to the possibility that, on Sunday, we may have to "sacar el chubasquero" (get out the raincoat/showercoat) as the anticyclone that was preventing cool air from coming in from the north (on the Trade Winds), is finally going away.

On Friday, we noted that the temperature here indoors "dropped sharply" from a too warm for the time of year, 26 degrees to a "chilly" 22 degrees - CENTIGRADE, of course - and realized "winter" had arrived when that "infallible barometer of atmospheric conditions" (four cats) huddled together on the "lecky blankie" for the first time this winter. :)

Hot and cold, winter and summer, are decidedly relative terms here.

Anyhow, Sunday, they tell us, there will be cloudy intervals in La Palma and El Hierro, becoming cloudy to very cloudy over all the western Canary Islands. Temperatures will rise slightly, initially. Winds will be moderate to strong on high ground. On Monday/Tuesday more of the same, basically, with a slight drop in temperatures.

Que llueva...que llueva... | Get the latest Tenerife weather here ...

All joking aside, we desperately need the rain. I was absolutely stunned by this image of this valley, taken at the beginning of this month.

Look how brown everything is! Now look at this, this or this image (two spring and one autumn) for how green and fertile it used to be.

There is, apart from "climate change" and (associated, or not) lack of rain, a major reason for the browning of this valley: the abandonment of the land. There were already very few, but over the last 8 years, there appear less and less smallholders trundling up and down these lanes to tend to their plots. Nobody wants to be bothered with growing things any more, either they don't need to do it for subsistence, or it isn't profitable.

Unpredictable weather patterns mean that crop failures are becoming more frequent. (The rest of the world could do with taking heed of what's happening on this island: often called "a continent in miniature".)

And, as one neighbour told me, it costs more to buy seed potatoes to plant, for instance, than it does to buy sacks of imported spuds to eat.

Who wants to pay more and have the hard work?

Then, because everything is becoming more and more abandoned, the valley has become a "rat sanctuary" (I kid you not and they're the size of cats), which has meant more use of chemicals, more weed killers, more browning ...

The landscape here is always browner after the summer, but this year, we hardly had a summer, yet, I have never seen it looking so brown before.

What concerns me more is that, should - heaven forbid - we ever be confronted with another fire and this time the wind not "miraculously" change direction, this brown stuff (it's dead weed and brush, not clean earth) would burn faster than spontaneous combustion.

In the meantime, erosion, after the fire burnt off ground cover, has added to the risk of winter rains causing avalanches of ash and soil. In October, environmental councilor, Wladimiro Rodríguez, recognized that the areas affected by the fire were not prepared for the coming winter rains.

The Cabildo says the island has 5,700 kilometers of barrancos (gorges), where there are risks of flooding, the worst are in Santa Cruz, La Laguna, Arona and Adeje, followed by Candelaria, Güímar and Los Realejos.

There is a plan, however, and to be fair, the island of Tenerife will be one of very few places on earth to have such protection, once / if it's actioned.

The new Plan de Defensa (Defence Plan) is to prepare the island to confront heavy rains. After several years of work, the text is all written and it's expected that the island's water board will be the first to sign it on Monday, but it's going to take 8 years and 113 million euros (£75M) to fix the 547 risks that have been identified, the majority of which are "grave" and need an "urgent" solution to prevent flooding on the island.

Most of those are because someone's built something, like roads or buildings, or are farming, in the path that rain water wants to take.

The next step, says the report, is getting all the parties (Canarian Government, Island Council, Water Board, Town Halls and individuals), to come to agreement (and cough up the dough), though the Island Council has made it clear that carrying out the plan is obligatory.

Until then, we have to cross our fingers and hope that the rains we get are moderate and not of the kind that can bring devastating floods.

La Isla necesita 113 millones para enfrentarse a las lluvias

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I'm convinced it's that global warming / climate change again, but now the Canary Islands (particularly the eastern ones, but it's apparent here in Tenerife too) are enjoying some rather unseasonal temperatures for late October. Well, maybe if you suffer from asthma you won't be enjoying it, but otherwise, I cannot imagine visitors complaining about this. :)

Apparently, what we have is another calima or sirocco, whichever you prefer (that's what Canarias24Horas said) and the "wind that we call southerly here, but which in reality is from the east," is the culprit, preventing the cooling trade winds from reaching the archipelago.

Saharan dust and temperatures of around 29 / 30 C (thankfully, the desert isn't too hot in October) will prolong for a couple more days.

¿Siroco o calima?

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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 ...

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Even the President of the Tenerife Island Corporation, Ricardo Melchior, says he feels outraged over failures in the National Meteorological Institute (INM)'s predictions for heavy rains last weekend.

The forecast was for storms, heavy rains and floods, when, in reality, hardly a drop fell, but the government had used the INM predictions as a basis for issuing an orange alert - which left us all looking a bit silly.

Melchoir recalled that in March 2006, he had appealed to minister for the Environment, Cristina Narbona, over the scarcity of adequate resources so that the INM could "reasonably predict" the weather in the Canaries. He classifies errors, such as last Friday's or over Tropical Storm Delta in 2005 as "inconceivable". Apparently, the minister then promised adequate resources, but no investment has been made since that date.

We agree, there'll always be uncertainty over weather forecasts, but you do expect something a bit more accurate in the 21st Century.

Apart from the fact that these inaccuracies screw up people's social arrangements when they try to exercise reasonable caution, it's just as important to avoid such false alarms - which lead to "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" situation - as it is dangerous to have no warnings at all.

We'd love to tell you where to find accurate weather forecasts for Tenerife, but if the National Meteorological Institute cant tell us ... May we suggest that for now, you lick your finger and stick it out in the wind? :)

Melchior tilda de "inconcebibles" las predicciones meteorológicas

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There's one thing we forgot about the upcoming puente or long weekend with a national holiday in it: Sod's Law and its affect on the weather! No, this is not an exclusively British weather phenomenon. Happens here too.

Based on information from the Spanish Meteorological Institute, the Canarian Government is declaring a state of orange alert, predicted to be in force from 00:00 hours on Friday, October 12th to 00:00 hours on Saturday, October 13th, because a storm and heavy rains, in the region of 30 liters per square meter, are expected in Tenerife and on the island of La Palma.

In the Canarian logic prevails and "you can't make this up" departments, the reports say it will affect, "Tenerife: Costa norte, La Orotava, Vilafor, Este, Oeste y Sur." (Tenerife: north coast, La Orotava, Vilaflor, East, West and South.) Well, I reckon that just about covers the entire island.

Seems redundant to list ... Oh well, mine is not to reason why. :)

We've certainly had heavier rains than 30 liters per square meter before, however, the report seems to suggest that they are expecting flooding.

An earlier report admitted that Las zonas afectadas por el incendio aún no están preparadas para las lluvias (The areas affected by the fire, still aren't prepared for the rains.) Mainly because, without the protection of ground cover, the topsoil and ash will be more liable to wash away and create rivers of slurry. So, putting two and two together, I think we can see why.

To the usual grocery list of recommendations to avoid flooded areas, water avalanches, gorges, falling rocks, is added some stronger wording: "avoid circulating" (in vehicles), abandon basements, disconnect the electricity, gas and water and do not touch electrical appliances if they are wet.

And, if you're on holiday, please follow the government's recommendation not to camp in areas liable to flooding. Now you're only allowed to camp in designated camp sites in the first place, so we wonder - we have no idea - how many camp sites were set up in areas liable to flooding? :)

Still, if rain washes away the beach volleyball, there are still many indoor pursuits available. You may be able to think of one or two for yourself, but as will be the case in Gran Canaria, while local authorities, banks and many small shops will be closed for the day, here too tourist areas are largely unaffected (by bank holidays) and the big shopping centers will be open.

Otherwise, stay attentive to the indications of the authorities.

Siga todas novedades de la alerta por tormenta que hay en la provincia de Tenerife. This is fun, if you read Spanish, you can get a blow by blow account of the weather situation from Canarias 7: a sorta "live blogging the alert", complete with interactive Google map and all. Try to stay awake.

The last two entries (arriving in reverse chronological order):

11.08: En Tenerife también el tiempo está estable. (In Tenerife also, the weather is stable.)

11.05: Sigue la situación de tranquilidad en la isla de La Palma. (The situation of tranquility continues in the island of La Palma.)

And Canarias24horas does it with diagrams and satellite pictures: Declarada situación de alerta por lluvias en Tenerife y La Palma.

All joking aside, I'm quite used to storms on these islands and this afternoon there is an ominous total lack of wind, which, when it dropped caused a really eerie quiet and a sharp rise in temperature to "uncomfortably muggy".

Such conditions do, generally, come before not very nice storms.

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In this article for The Sunday Times, Susan d'Arcy says, "Summer was a washout. And now we have those cold, dark, car-won't-start December mornings to look forward to. Anyone fancy some winter sun?" She adds that "Tenerife is becoming - wait for it - trendy". Personally, I wouldn't agree with what she lists as the latest thing in cool (a huge, glitzy resort), but hey, I'll settle for the island losing it's "cheap and nasty" image any which way.

At the end of the article, she mentions the development of "La Niña, the big, stroppy sister of El Niño" and weather expected in each of the regions she lists. For Egypt, Oman and the Canaries, that is, she says, "scorchio."

The 13 hottest hotels for winter sun

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When you're planning a visit to Tenerife - and deciding what to pack - you want to know what the weather is going to be like on the island in a particular month, so here we reproduce a chart for the whole year, giving you the number of hours of sun, the average day time temperatures, average temperature of the sea and the number of days when it might rain.

Climate data	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sun Hours/Day	5.9	6.6	7.1	7.7	8.8	9.8	10.6	9.8	8.5	6.9	5.9	5.5
Air [°C]	17.9	17.9	18.6	19.0	20.4	22.2	24.3	25.0	24.3	22.8	20.6	18.7
Water [°C]	19	18	18	18	19	20	21	22	23	23	21	20
Days with rain	5	5	5	3	1	0	0	1	1	3	5	6

[Reproduced / translated from Wikipedia.]

Now, bear in mind these are averages and for the whole island.

As far as the number of hours sun goes, we are in the northern hemisphere, so there is a difference between summer and winter, but it is nowhere near as marked as it is in the UK. Here it doesn't get dark at 3 p.m. in winter: it's more like 6 p.m. and, conversely, it doesn't stay light as late in summer.

The average air temperature makes me giggle, when you consider that, at time of writing, in July, it's 37°C currently, when we should have 24.3°C.

These "official" averages, I half suspect, were taken in a dark room, at the top of Teide, with the air-conditioning on. I suggest that you take them that the temperature is not usually likely to go below those given. Of course, I have to add the qualifier that they may do so in some exceptional circumstance.

Water temperature, you can check by dipping in a toe. :)

Days with rain can mean anything really, from a five minute shower to a few consecutive days. It's never that many days and rain seems to come all at once here, so once it's over - generally (adding the usual proviso that nothing is guaranteed with the weather) - you won't see any more for a long time.

Since most of you will stay in the south, you will also be glad to hear that 73% of the rain that does fall in Tenerife, falls in the north and, most of that in the mountains above La Orotava at an altitude of 1,000 to 1,200 meters.

Check the Latest Weather in Tenerife

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It seems such a "Terribly British" thing to keep harping on about the weather, but in my experience anyway, the preoccupation isn't merely confined to those nations who are only used to weather of the crappy variety.

Whenever I go to my local supermarket, you can be sure there will be some comment, if not lengthy conversation about the current state of it. Whilst the concerns of locals here in this agricultural valley normally revolve around the scenario of too much / not enough rain for the crop of the season, the other day, we were discussing the fact that what the weather reports say and what we feel, in relation to heat, seem to bear scant relation to one another.

This, of course, is because the official temperature readings are taken in the shade (we'd all managed to "blow up" a thermometer at some point too trying to get a "real" reading. Bunch of kids!) I also think that the north and south temperature readings in Tenerife are taken at the respective airports.

Vast open spaces with nice cooling breezes whipping through them.

Something the average house, poolside or sun-trap patio doesn't have.

For most of the year in Tenerife, the south is hotter than the north. The latter usually has the vientos alisios (trade winds) cooling it and bringing along clouds. Only sometimes, in the hottest part of the year, around August usually (give or take a few days), the situation can get reversed.

Today, while at around 4:30 this afternoon, it was 91 °F / 33 °C in the south, in the north, it had reached 102 °F / 39 °C, having had 105° F / 41° C forecast for the hottest part of the day.

By 5:30 p.m., the situation was back to "normal", with the south clocking up 106° F / 41° C and the north dropping to a "cool" 100° F / 38 C!

Yes, curious thing, but as the sun starts to drop here, so do the winds (not that there has been much today to begin with) and, so the temperature can go up in the early evening, not dropping again until the early hours.

Today is definitely not a day to be without air-conditioning and merely reliant on a pathetic fan that bearly "recycles" the hot air. (Mind you, in winter, people in Tenerife bemoan the fact that pathetic fan heaters are ill equipped to deal with the "freezing" temperatures, that, in truth, seldom drop below 15° C.)

It's also one of those days when you'd love to take a cold shower to cool off too, but never mind frying an egg on the pavement, you could almost boil one in the sun-heated water that is coming out of the "cold" taps!

(Money saving ecological tip: do laundry and wash dishes during the hottest part of the afternoon in summer with machines on the "cold" setting to save energy. Your stuff gets a very hot wash too!)

Tenerife Island, the largest in the Canary Island archipelago, is approximately 50 miles (80 kilometers) long and 32 miles (54 kilometers) at its widest point. With Pico de Teide, its volcanic peak, rising 12,198 feet (3,718 meters) above the sea, Tenerife has the distinction of having the highest elevation in the Atlantic Ocean. The island has a surface area of 2,034 km² (785 sq.mi).

[Sources: Earth from Space and Wikipedia.]

Not huge, but with vast changes of height, landscape, etc., in the relatively small area, this is what causes some startling changes in climate.

It's actually fascinating how different the temperatures can be in different places. Not just north and south, but at lower and higher altitudes - again, the higher altitudes are generally cooler, until you get to the hottest part of the year when their inland location, away from the breezes, tends to trap the heat - and, even between different places just minutes away from each other.

Andy Williams, who also lives in the north of Tenerife, writes:

"Here in Tenerife the weather is a little strange. Yesterday, at my house, the temperature was 25C. I went off to the market (its about 10 minutes away on the motorway), and the temperature there was 36C there. After the market, I went of to Santa Cruz (another 15 minutes drive), and the temperature there was 42C. Phew, that's hot.

Anyway, we headed off back home, and the temperature began to drop. Within the space of 1 Km, the temperature dropped a staggering 9 degrees. Back home, the temperature was 26C. That's 16 degrees difference in temperature for two places 20 minutes drive from each other."

So when you want to know what the temperature is in Tenerife, it helps to know which bit, otherwise you could get a wide variety of answers. But, let's face it, that same variety is what gives us so much to talk about! :)

You can check north and south current weather and forecasts here

Labels: Tenerife Weather, Weather

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August is almost here and, after a lot of not at all July-like, July weather here in the north, today, whilst it's a "nice cool" 28 C / 82 F here indoors, opening the front door was like opening the door on a blast furnace. So I've never opened the door of a blast furnace, but it's what I imagine it to be like. The very hot air came at me and hit me in the face like a brick wall!

In the south of Tenerife, even though there are scattered clouds, it's passed the "magic" 33 C mark (more on that in a moment), today reaching 34 C, with 35 C forecast for Sunday and 36 C on Monday/Tuesday and, with lows of around the 25 - 26 C mark at night, according to Weather Underground.

This means the weather alert situation has been raised to orange.

Why, where do we get that information and what does it all mean?

The weather alert information in Spain comes from the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología (National Meteorological Institute) and, specifically, this page: Avisos meteorológicos (Meteorological Warnings). This screenshot, taken today, shows that much of the south of the Spanish mainland and the Canary Islands are colored in orange, while other areas are yellow or green.


Green No risk       Yellow Low risk       Orange Important risk       Red Extreme risk

On the map on the live page, if you hover over any of the areas where there is any level of alert yellow, orange and, if there were any, red; a little icon shows above the map, indicating what weather condition is the cause.

Those little weather pictures are pretty easy to understand, even without knowing any Spanish, but you can get English explanations for them and see the similar map for the whole of Europe, here at MeteoAlarm.

What each of those colored risk levels mean, explain INM, is that "risk" is directly related to "rarity": that is to say that the more unusual a phenomenon is, the less prepared the population is to deal with its effects.

GREEN	No meteorological risk exists.
YELLOW	There is no meteorological risk for the general population, although there is for some activity in particular. This level does not produce a warning, but does alert people to be attentive to the forecast.
ORANGE	An important meteorological risk exists (meteorological phenomenon that are not habitual and that pose a certain grade of danger for normal activities.)
RED	The meteorological risk is extreme (meteorological phenomenon that are not habitual, of exceptional intensity and with a very high level of risk for the population.)

Something they do not take into account, but you should, is that the levels given for Tenerife and the Canary Islands considers "usual" for these islands. If you're visiting temporarily from the north of Europe, your personal level of preparedness to deal with high temperatures, for instance, will be less. Your level of risk may therefore be higher than the general, local, population.

What criteria are usual / unusual on these islands?

The INM have published all the facts and figures (in Spanish, naturally) in a PDF document, but Canarias24horas have explained it all in plainer language (still Spanish) here. Ah, but you want it in English, don't you? :)

Levels and Recommendations

To qualify as a "heatwave" in the strict sense, temperatures have to reach some maximums and minimums simultaneously. These thresholds are fixed by the National Meteorological Institute and for the Canary Islands, they are 33 C maximum and 23 C minimum (i.e. nighttime).

Level one yellow is activated when the forecast (note: not the actual) is for temperatures equal to or above the 33 maximum and 23 minimum for one or two days. At this level, you are recommended to drink water frequently, avoid going out during hours of sun and to use sun protection.

If the forecast for these temperatures prolongs to 3 or 4 consecutive days (as you'll note from what I told you above about today, tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday's forecast), then level 2 orange is activated. A warning to the population is issued so that people can be especially attentive to the needs of special risk groups, such as; young children, old people, pregnant women and the chronically infirm. Recommendations are to keep hydrated, stay in the shade, avoid going out during hours of sun and to use sun protection.

If the high temperatures prolong for 5 days or more, then level 3 red comes into force and the above mentioned precautions need to be reinforced as well as using air-conditioning (ha, if we had any). They also recommend precaution when undertaking sports activities and in carrying out any heavy work. In case of any symptoms, such as exhaustion, muscle cramps, symptoms of fatigue or dizzinesses, get medical attention or call 112.

Another cause of weather alerts are the calimas (Saharan Air Layer) that can happen at any time of year. In winter, these same levels and their corresponding recommendations, will come into force for different reasons, such as heavy rains, high seas, strong winds or unusual storms.

Labels: Tenerife Weather, Weather

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Airflights.co.uk say that, "While the UK wallows in distinctly unseasonal downpours, holiday hotspots like Tenerife and parts of Spain are expecting the mercury to top 32 degrees Celsius over coming days."

It's 25°C now in the south of Tenerife - according to Weather Underground - and I'm writing this at 2:30 a.m. here in the north, where it's only meant to be 61°F / 16°C. The thermometer on my desk, however, says that it's 80° F. / 27° C. My other "barometer": four cats and a dog, lying flat like trappers' pelts on cool, tiled floors confirms the fact. :)

Nevertheless, there are no current weather alerts: the forecast has to be for 33° C and over for several days running, before it's called a heatwave.

The forecast for Thursday is a high of: 86° F. / 30° C, but judging by the current night-time low temperature, I would say "and the rest ..."

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Rosanna de Lisle offers golden rules for looking after your skin in the sun, starting with: "Stay out of the sun in the middle of the day. If your shadow is shorter than you are tall, seek shade. Be aware that the solar noon may not be 12pm; in Spain it is more like 2-2.30pm. Act like a local and take a siesta." In Tenerife, it's an hour earlier. Same time as the UK.

Stay safe under the sun

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Think Spain report, "According to a forecast released by the National Meteorological Institute (INM) Thursday, a ridge of low pressure is forecast to continue to bring cold, wet conditions to the north and east coasts of Spain during this weekend and into the first half of next week although an improvement is expected from around Thursday onwards. Gale force winds are also forecast for the Cantabrian coast and the northeast of the Canary Islands archipelago."

You thought it was only in the UK that bad weather could pick Bank Holidays? :)

Storms threaten Holy Week parades

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The island was, once again, placed under a situation of alert late on Sunday night and a great quantity of rain and snow fell in Tenerife, particularly on the north of the island, causing rockfalls that closed roads (including the TF-5 highway), flooding, electricity cuts, left schools and colleges without classes and, at least, a dozen people had to be rescued on Teide. In some areas of the north of Tenerife, 200 liters per square meter of rain fell and there were delays at Tenerife's Los Rodeos airport.

Access roads to the mountain and the National Park remain closed and the weather alert remains active, although schools have re-opened today, but you can see a pretty picture of Teide, all snow covered, here (along with pictures of flooding.)

Go here and you can see the view, via webcam, from the residence building at the Teide Observatory at 2,400 meters. You can't see a fat lot right now, because Teide is in cloud, but you can see a lot of snow around and about the area.

Diario de Avisos call it "a spectacular storm" and, they're not wrong. This house has 18 inch thick walls, but the thunder was so intense that we all felt the ground and houses shake locally at one point, as if there had been an earthquake.

Yet, despite the situation suffered in the north and capital of the island, the beaches on the south of Tenerife were still full of sunbathers throughout the weekend.

Las intensas lluvias dejan carreteras cortadas, inundaciones, desprendimientos y un rescate

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Photo: NASA Aqua- MODIS SatelliteIf you'd heard the thunderstorm over the north of Tenerife last night and the force of the accompanying rain, you might not have been best pleased with the weather! But, the good news is that the sun has been trying to peek out today and the alert, which was declared on Tuesday and was expected to end today, was ended early yesterday.

Too much water falling all at once, did have the - by now customary - effect of causing retaining walls in Gran Canaria to break and generally putting the islands' infrastructures to the test. The north of Tenerife and Fuerteventura were also affected by the heavy rains, but there were no important incidents in Tenerife.

Well, unless you count the fact that I have been out and walked our track, as I always do after storms, removing the quite sizable rocks from the road surface that would be large enough to cause a flat tyre, if not more serious damage to passing vehicles.

Yesterday, after it had been raining heavily in the morning, the sun came out for a short while in the late afternoon, causing a quite spectacular effect that I had not seen before, where road surfaces and whole fields were quite literally steaming.

This weather has been quite a contrast to the dust storm, which on March 10th, saw thick plumes of dust blowing off the west coast of Africa and over the Canary Islands, as can be seen in this image for the NASA Earth Observatory.

And, guess what we're going to get now the rains have stopped?

Another sirocco! According to the atmospheric observatory at Izaña, up on Mount Teide, Tenerife, the Canaries will commence a new episode similar to that of March 10th, owing to the movement in our direction, of yet another plume of dust.

This episode, say Canarias24horas, could be very intense (thick) in the eastern Canary Islands and, accompanied by other weather phenomenon, both dry and wet.

In other words, the winds that bring the dust cause the storms which bring the rain, which causes the wind that brings the dust ... Rinse and repeat.

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OK, apologies to Roxy Music, Bob Dylan, et al., but news on the wire is that rains, forecast for today, Tuesday (it's just started pattering on the windows of Secret Tenerife Towers), could turn into storms by the end of the day. It doesn't say how stormy and, it's mostly in the north. Actually, this rain will be quite welcome after the sirocco / calima that we've had over the last few days, for asthma sufferers especially and, by everyone else to wash the thick layer of the Sahara Desert off vehicles. If you're here on holiday, get out the museum guide or go shopping. Have you noticed how rain isn't nearly so "wet" when combined with some "retail therapy"? :)

Llegan lluvias a Canarias para este martes con probabilidad de que sean tormentosas al final del día

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The Canary Islands are on alert today, according to information from the National Meteorological Institute.

In the province of Santa Cruz the level of alert is orange, considered important, due to high seas to the north west, with waves reaching up to five meters. In the province of Las Palmas, the level of alert is yellow. Both alerts are coastal alerts (which means they are more relevant to fishermen, but visitors should take care too, especially on the north coasts, where there is a risk of getting washed off rocks by the waves).

In the north of Tenerife and in La Palma, cloudy intervals are expected with cloud below 1,000 meters. In high areas and the south and west of the islands, clear skies and temperatures without change. Winds light to variable on the south west coast. Strong northeast wind in the central peaks of Tenerife, reducing in the afternoon.

Las islas en alerta por mal tiempo en el mar

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Just a day before the main parade of Carnaval and, again, the weather is threatening to ruffle the feathers of Carnaval goers as a state of yellow alert was declared today in Tenerife.

The predictions for today were for very cloudy skies with a probability of light rain in the western islands and the east of La Palma, temperatures without change, but with the likelihood of winds, variable in strength from breezes on the south coasts to strong gusts reaching 75 kmph in the peaks of La Palma, La Orotava and Vilaflor.

At this end of the island, at least, the winds have dropped considerably since lunch time and the sun has finally poked his head out in a mostly blue sky, but we'll be keeping a very keen eye on this and firmly crossing our fingers that, despite the predictions that this weather front is likely to persist, at least, until Friday, that it will not be enough to upset the Carnaval program as it did last year.

Heaven knows, this year's Carnaval has suffered enough setbacks already.

El INM declara la alerta amarilla en Santa Cruz de Tenerife por fuertes vientos
Alerta amarilla por fuertes vientos en la provincia tinerfeña

Labels: Carnaval, Tenerife Weather, Weather