Canary Islands

Canary Islands Weather Overview

The Canary Islands are an archipelago of 7 main islands located off the west coast of Africa, as you move from west to east the main islands are La Palma, La Gomera, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.  

The islands mild and pleasant temperatures are why they have long been known as ‘the islands of eternal spring.’ The mild climate occurs largely because of the islands’ location in the path of the Canary current. The Canary current is a cool ocean current which flows toward the south west and has the effect of making the region a few degrees cooler than other locations at the same longitude. The islands in fact lie blocking this current so they are directly affected by these cooler waters.

While there are minor differences in weather conditions between each of the main islands, the archipelago as a whole generally experiences mild winters and summers which don’t see particularly high temperatures. There are rarely major temperature extremes, though it is not entirely uncommon for the barometer to rise above 30 degrees in the peak of summer.

Year round the Canary Islands have a warm, sunny climate with an average temperature that ranges from 19-22° C. Across each island it is generally safe to say that the weather varies from the north to the south. The north coasts of the islands are often significantly wetter than the south coasts as the north is exposed to the predominant northeast trade winds.

The south coasts on the other hand are much more sheltered and see higher temperatures and less rainfall. As a result, the flora and fauna can also vary from north to south. The north coasts are greener and more luscious, where as the southern slopes are usually sunny deserts.

In the summer months (from June to September) the daily highs in the Canaries generally sit around 27C and at night time the mercury will fall to about18C. In the winter the daily highs are about 16C and nightly lows are rarely any cooler than 8C. Daily sunshine hours range from an average of six in winter to as many as eleven to twelve in the summer months.

Occasionally hot, dry air is drawn out from the Sahara desert and will reach as far as the islands, this is when the warmest days in summer will occur. Once the wind reaches the islands however it is significantly cooler than when it has left the coast of Africa as it is cooled as it passes over the cold ocean water.

During winter there are occasional stormy wet periods as the weather is disturbed by the influence of an Atlantic depression, however these periods are not overly frequent. Fog and cloud may occur sporadically in the summer months, but as a whole summer is usually dry and sunny with no extreme highs.

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