What's the weather like? - February 2022

[windermeregolfer]

Morning from Caleta, yesterday again much as forecast, what cloud there was during the afternoon was high & thin so the sun was warm through the dust.

This morning at 8am it is 17C, much clearer as you can see the second range of hills for the first time in days but there is still a haze, hardly a breath of wind and no condensation.

               

Today's Caleta forecast -

The yellow warning for dust has been removed so a hazy sun today with high thin cloud, shade temperature to get up to 23C at 3pm with the UV Factor reaching possibly 5 according to AEmet or only 2 according to Accuweather, air quality still poor, there is a 25% chance of rain tonight.

Wind from the N this morning at 6 to 7 kmph with gusts up to 15 kmph moving NE from lunchtime easing at 4 kmph with gusts still up to 15 kmph.

Sunrise, sunset & tide times -

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Hardly a breath of wind!?? 
Over here we've had E gales all night and still going strong!

[Bertie]

A very gentle NE’ly breeze here in Villaverde, Tamara.

[windermeregolfer]

Not quite as forecast been quite cloudy since 11am but currently 23C with only a light breeze.

               

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

The wind stopped abruptly around lunchtime/early afternoon and it has been totally still since in Tindaya. Very grey and murky, lots of dust in the air, feels very oppressive, no sign of the sun all day but not cold.

[windermeregolfer]

Good morning from Caleta where the start of the day is not a bad one, much clearer, a nice sunrise at 7.50, 17C a light wind, a few high clouds and no condensation.

           

               

Today's Caleta forecast -

A mostly sunny day with a shade temperature high of 23C at 3pm, UV Factor to reach 5 according to AEmet Weather, air quality is still poor.

Wind today from the NW this morning at 11 to 13 kmph with gusts up to 22 kmph moving to come from the NE this afternoon at 11 to 13 kmph with gusts up to 26 kmph.

Sunrise, sunset & tide times -

   

[windermeregolfer]

Good morning from Caleta, yesterday was not quite as forecast, it clouded over by 11am but by the time we had driven down to Pozo Negro for lunch it was starting to clear and we had a clear sunny sky for most of the afternoon.  We had a shower of rain about 8.30pm and have had a number of showers of rain during the night thankfully washing some of the Calima dust away.

                   

                   

This morning at 7.55 it was 18C, cloudy, a light wind and no condensation.

               

Today's Caleta forecast -

AEmet give A YELLOW WARNING FOR WIND.

A cloudy morning with a 65% chance of rain late morning & lunchtime, shade temperature to get up to 22C at 3pm for a couple of hours, the UV Factor will reach 4 and air quality is poor.

Wind today generally from an easterly direction at 2 to 4 kmph this morning increasing this afternoon at 11 to 19 kmph with gust up to 35 kmph.

Sunrise, sunset & tide times -

   

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

from Radio Sintonia:

No news from the trade winds for the next 7 days and easterly and southeasterly winds are expected to continue to bring calima

Not by much to stop repeating it is still a sadness the speed with which climate change is appropriating the climate of the island of Fuerteventura. Years of drought are now complemented, for two years, with much longer periods of calimas, the result of the warming of the Sahara desert and the consequent power of the African ridge that brings with it the disappearance of the trade winds for more periods of time.

For next week the forecast is for more land, winds from the east and southeast, dust in suspension, with rise of maximums and stagnation of the minimums, as if we were in the middle of the Sahara, more or less.

The sandstorms that pass through the archipelago arise in an area between Chad and Niger, but at the moment almost no country in sub-Saharan Africa is getting rid of this phenomenon that has increased in the last 2 years.

Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Western Sahara are continuously feeling the effects of this almost perpetual calima between December and March, although with less and less sporadic episodes in summer and autumn.

Storms in front of the dorsal

A phenomenon that has come to increase the concern of experts is how the Atlantic storms that approach the archipelago, generate easterly winds in Fuerteventura (by turning the opposite of the hands of the clock) and these "suck" the calima that finally prevents the storm from continuing its advance and affecting the archipelago fully. The storms end, paradoxically, feeding the African ridge that comes out strongly to the Atlantic.

The situation, almost 100% of the time, ends when the eastern winds will manage to break the spiral formed by the storm so that one of its resulting arms comes to affect the western islands with some water. To Fuerteventura, land.

Air quality and health

Powerful calimas have a direct impact on climate and health. In fact, they are a serious risk to human health. Its negative effects are proportional to the size of the particles that compose it and can cause irritation in the skin and eyes, conjunctivitis, asthma, tracheitis, pneumonia, allergic rhinitis and silicosis.

Exposure to Saharan dust also increases the risk of mortality in patients with heart failure.

According to the study Desert dust outbreak in the Canary Islands (February, 2020) by the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) and the World Meteorological Organization, 0.71% of hospital admissions recorded in Gran Canaria are directly related to exposure to episodes of high pollution caused by desert dust. In the calima phenomenon last year, that percentage stood at 6.7%.

The most affected were those who already had respiratory conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) or asthma, according to Dr. Hernández. "Calima exacerbates the respiratory process in patients with lung diseases, but does not generate them on its own." Likewise, a study led by the Cardiology Service of the University Hospital of the Canary Islands concludes that the risk of cardiovascular death increases by 2% on the same day of exposure to suspended dust phenomena.

An island irretrievably exposed to the harmful effect of climate change

The air quality of the archipelago is these days very dangerous for health, and the situation is repeated with increasing assiduity, being Fuerteventura, by far the most damaged island. Climate change is here to stay and our island, due to its proximity to the Sahara, will be one of the places where the phenomena become more extreme.

According to Emilio Cuevas, director of the Izaña Observatory of the National Institute of Meteorology, without the incidence of trade winds, "there is a great probability that warm air masses will arrive from Africa, which would consequently increase the calima."

But not only would more clouds of dust in suspension arrive. The problem is more serious because "Africa is one of the places that is going to warm the most, especially the north and we are just 100 kilometers away."

[windermeregolfer]

Tamara thanks for that article updating us on the Weather patterns, I have to say yesterday we had cloud in the morning it cleared early afternoon but by 3.30 / 4pm it appeared we were having a Calima again with the hazy sunshine, I hope not as I did all the outside cleaning and washed the car after the last Calima yesterday morning. No idea why they had a yellow warning for wind as it was one of the calmest days I can recall.

               

This morning at 7.40 cloudy, 19C but feels cooler in the light wind, no condensation.

                   

Today's Caleta forecast -

Well the forecasts differ yet again, AEmet saying hazy sunshine this morning and a mix of sun and cloud this afternoon, Accuweather saying mainly cloudy all day, both forecast no rain, shade temperature to get up to 22C from midday though until 6pm with the UV Factor reaching only 2 due to cloud, air quality fair.

Wind from the S / SE all day at 19 to 24 kmph with gusts up to 32 kmph this morning, easing as the afternoon progresses down to 4 kmph by 6pm.

Sunrise, sunset & tide times -

   

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Once again we had the wind over on the west of the island yesterday!