Climate basics Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria sits on the 28th parallel — same latitude as the Sahara. That the island still has a mild maritime climate comes down to two factors:
The northeast trade wind (Alisio). Blows year-round from the northeast, up to altitudes of 1,200 to 1,500 metres. Brings cool, moist air from the northwest Atlantic.
The cool Canary Current. Sea temperatures between 19 and 23°C all year. Acts like a natural air conditioner for the coast.
These two factors explain why Maspalomas in July doesn't hit 45°C like Marrakech, but 27. It's not magic. It's geography.
What the data says
At Gran Canaria airport the annual mean is 21.1°C. Daytime high 24.2°C, daytime low 18.0°C. January is the coldest month (high 20.8°C / low 15.0°C), August the warmest (27.5 / 21.6). Source: AEMET, climate normal period 1981–2010.
Rainfall averages 22 days a year. June, July and August have an average of zero millimetres at the airport.
The south of the island gets the maximum sunshine at 3,200 to 3,300 hours per year, Las Palmas in the north 2,800 to 2,900.
Syracuse University in 1996 declared Las Palmas the city with the best climate in the world.
The study has been quoted on every other tourist flyer since — but the substance holds: extremes are rare, the climate is mild and stable.
When it does get hot
The stability ends when calima arrives from North Africa. Then the whole system flips: hot, dry air pushes over the island, the trade wind loses control, temperatures shoot up.
With a serious calima, 40°C in the south is possible. More on this in chapter 3.
Microclimate zones — north, south, altitude
Anyone who only knows the airport reading underestimates the island. Gran Canaria is a continent in miniature — over a few kilometres, rainfall, sun and temperature change drastically.
The north–south gradient
Maspalomas in the south registers around 43 mm of rain a year — less than Sahara desert towns.
Las Palmas in the north sits at about 300 mm and has many more cloudy hours.
Pinar de Tamadaba and the northern Cumbres get 650 to 930 mm a year. The record stands at Cuevas Blancas: 2,508 mm in 1962/63 (InfonorteDigital). That's more than many Swiss alpine valleys.
This isn't academic. If you live in Maspalomas, less rain falls in a year than in a mediocre week in Hamburg. If you live in San Mateo, you need a raincoat.
The "donkey's belly" — Panza de Burro
The northeast trade wind pushes a low stratus cloud against the north side of the island. The locals call this cloud Panza de Burro — donkey's belly.
It works as a natural sunshade for Las Palmas: holds back summer heat, brings rainfall to the northern slopes, dissolves on the south side via the foehn effect.
Concretely: Las Palmas can be foggy in the morning while Maspalomas, 30 km further south, sits clearly in the sun.
If you're holidaying in Las Palmas waiting for sun, you sometimes get unlucky. If you live in the south wondering why the capital looks grey — that's the explanation.
High altitude: Pico de las Nieves
1,949 metres. Winter temperatures of 3 to 6°C, occasional snow. The trade wind ends between 1,200 and 1,500 metres — above that it gets drier and warmer.
That's why the Cumbres (mountain zones) are often the first to get the highest AEMET warning during storms: there's nothing up there to slow the wind.
South in summer
In summer the south is usually 2 to 4°C warmer than the north. With calima, San Bartolomé de Tirajana and the inland gorges can climb above 40°C.
In August 2025 tropical nights without cooling below 30°C were measured in Tejeda (Maspalomas 24h). That's no longer "eternal spring" — that's continuous physical stress.
Calima — what it is and what it costs
Calima isn't fog. It's a cloud of Sahara dust and sand carried over the Atlantic by the wind. Recognisable by the orange-brown sky and visibility under 3 kilometres. The particles contain quartz, clay, sometimes also transported pollutants (heavy metals, pollen).
If you see the sun as a milky disc and your car is brown in the morning — that's calima.
The numbers that matter
EU limits for PM10 (fine particles smaller than 10 micrometres):
- Daily limit: 50 µg/m³ — may be exceeded a maximum of 35 times per year (from 2030: only 18 times)
- WHO recommendation: 45 µg/m³ as a 24-hour mean
- In Spain: environmental information threshold from 50 µg/m³, environmental alarm from 80 µg/m³
That's the threshold architecture. Now compare it with reality.
The record: February 2020
In the calima event of February 2020, up to 2,000 µg/m³ of PM10 was measured on Gran Canaria (El País).
That's 40 times the EU daily limit and about 44 times the WHO recommendation. El País even quoted readings "60 times above the recommended limit".
Some media outlets still circulate the phrase "six times more toxic". That's journalistically imprecise. The correct multipliers are 40 to 60 — depending which reference you take. This isn't pedantry: in health discussions, an order of magnitude matters.
Europe's exception zone
A study by Spain's CSIC research council from October 2024 described the Supercalimas of 2020–2022 as the most intense dust events since records began in Spain (RTVC).
In 2023, 22 of 48 Canary monitoring stations exceeded the EU annual limit for PM10 — more than any other region in Spain.
Because the readings are of natural origin, the EU can exempt them from compliance assessment. That helps Brussels tick boxes. It doesn't help residents' lungs. The health risk remains measurable — see chapter 7.
What else calima does
- Visibility under 3,000 metres, often under 1,000
- Flights delayed or cancelled, especially on small-island airports (La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro)
- Driving more dangerous: double safe distance, lights on
- Photovoltaic loses up to 30 per cent output
- Allergies and airways noticeably irritated — even in healthy people
AEMET warnings — reading the traffic light
The Spanish weather service AEMET runs the Plan Meteoalerta with four levels. The logic is traffic-light, but with consequences.
- Verde — no risk
- Amarillo (yellow) — risk for certain activities. Hiking, boating, outdoor sport with care
- Naranja (orange) — significant risk, impact on daily life. Schools may close, events get postponed
- Rojo (red) — extreme risk. Travel not recommended, flight and ferry cancellations likely
Wind — thresholds for Gran Canaria
- Amarillo: gusts up to 70 km/h
- Naranja: gusts up to 90 km/h
- Rojo: gusts from 130 km/h
Values apply to three Meteoalerta zones on the island: North (659001), Cumbres (659003), East/South/West (659004). The Cumbres zone is often first to reach the highest level during storms.
Rainfall — thresholds for Gran Canaria
- Amarillo: 40 mm in 12 hours (15 mm in 1 hour)
- Naranja: 80 mm in 12 hours (30 mm in 1 hour)
- Rojo: 120 mm in 12 hours (60 mm in 1 hour)
Calima — its own warning
AEMET activates a yellow calima warning when visibility is forecast to fall below 3 kilometres. In parallel, the Canary emergency authority (Dirección General de Seguridad y Emergencias) issues a prealerta at island level.
During the calima event of 19 April 2026, yellow warnings applied to all seven islands simultaneously (El Diario).
Where to find the warnings
- AEMET app (free, multilingual) — the most direct way
- aemet.es/es/eltiempo/prediccion/avisos — the official warning page
- 112 Canarias on Twitter/X — usually first with context
- Local media like CITA News or Maspalomas News for English-language coverage
Borrascas and storms — Therese, Delta, Hermine
Gran Canaria isn't a storm hotspot like the Caribbean. But the rare events are destructive. The last two decades give three benchmarks: Delta 2005, Hermine 2022, Therese 2026.
Borrasca Therese, 17 to 25 March 2026
Therese ravaged the archipelago over nine days. Municipal damage estimates added up to 186.8 million euros. Several islands declared a state of emergency (PEINCA level 2). The Spanish military (UME) deployed to La Gomera.
The rainfall record was extreme: Therese multiplied the March precipitation tenfold at numerous points. Peaks:
- 474 litres per square metre at El Reventón station (Puntagorda, La Palma)
- 260.3 litres per square metre at Vega de San Mateo on Gran Canaria
CECOES 112 registered 1,783 emergency call-outs during the storm days (RTVC). The Gran Cabalgata of the Carnaval Internacional de Maspalomas was postponed from 21 to 28 March.
Delta, 28/29 November 2005
Delta remains the most destructive storm in the islands' collective memory.
- 7 dead
- More than 300,000 people without electricity, some for a week
- Wind gusts of 248 km/h at Teide (Izaña)
- Over 120 km/h at the coasts
- "Dedo de Dios" at Agaete destroyed by the storm
Source: RTVC. Anyone who knows Gran Canaria's rock formations remembers the "God's Finger" — today it's gone. That was Delta.
Hermine, September 2022
Hermine brought historic rainfall records:
- 345 mm in one day on La Palma — more than 20 times the normal September monthly total
- 125 litres per square metre on Gran Canaria
- 671 cancelled flights and 65 diversions
- About 3,000 households without electricity
Source: RTVE. Hermine shows the worst case for air travel — the number every storm forecast measures itself against.
What this means
The islands get hit by an event of this scale every few years on average. Insurers know it. Anyone with property here should:
- Take out explicit storm insurance (not in every standard policy)
- Check roof tiles, outdoor furniture, awnings before storm season
- During Naranja or Rojo warnings, stay away from cars and boats
Seasonal calendar — what to expect when
Anyone planning Gran Canaria — holiday, property purchase, longer stay — should know the annual rhythm.
November to February — rainy season
67.5 per cent of annual rainfall at the airport falls between November and February (102 mm of the 151 mm annual mean). These are the months with the rare heavy-rain events — and the highest risk for borrascas.
If you holiday in the north in winter, expect cloudy days. In the south, statistically nothing falls.
December to February — calima peak
- December: 17.3 calima days on average (peak month)
- February: 14.5 days
- November: 14.3 days
In winter 2023/24, calima influence was present on 85 per cent of days — only 12 of 90 days were dust-free (Diario de Avisos). Annual average: about 112 calima days. That's almost every third day.
June to September — drought and heat
- June, July, August: long-term average of zero mm rainfall at the airport
- August: hottest month, average daily high 27.5°C
- With calima in the south: above 40°C possible
Semana Santa — the wildcard
Late March / early April averages around 19°C with low rain probability. But: historically, calima episodes cluster around Easter week. In 2026, AEMET activated a calima warning for all islands from 30/31 March onwards.
Trend: more dust, hotter Atlantic
According to AEMET delegate David Suárez, Sahara dust activity has measurably increased since 2020 — driven by growing North African drought, the eastward-shifted Azores high, and climate change.
The Supercalimas of 2020–2022 are considered the most intense since measurement began (Europa Press / CSIC).
The medium-to-long-term trend is unambiguous: calima will become more frequent, more intense, longer-lasting. We've devoted a separate article to this — see Climate Change Forecast Canary Islands.
Health during calima — who needs to be careful
Calima isn't only a tourist topic. For residents with pre-existing conditions, the peaks are medically relevant — and measurable in hospital figures.
Who is particularly at risk
The Canary health authority (Consejería de Sanidad) names seven risk groups:
- Children
- Elderly people
- People with chronic respiratory disease (asthma, COPD, chronic bronchitis)
- People with chronic heart disease
- Pregnant women
- People working outdoors
- Smokers
What hospital figures show
Scientific studies cited by the Servicio Canario de la Salud document, for calima days:
- +22.6 per cent hospital admissions for respiratory disease (95% confidence interval: 10.4 to 36.0 per cent)
- +29.9 per cent COPD admissions (CI: 6.6 to 58.4 per cent)
- Effect lasts up to five days after the event
- Paediatric emergency admissions rise significantly
These aren't small numbers. On a calima day with 1,000 typical respiratory admissions, that's 226 additional patients — per day, and for days after the event.
Sanidad's behaviour rules
When the calima arrives:
- Stay indoors — keep windows closed
- No physical exertion outdoors — no sport, no hiking
- Hydration — especially children and the elderly
- Wipe surfaces with a damp cloth — not dry, that just stirs up
- Continue regular medication — asthma sprays, heart medication
- Watch the air quality index (ICA) of the Red de Control y Vigilancia — gobiernodecanarias.org/icca
- If breathing worsens: call 112
The micro level: PM10 vs. PM2.5
PM10 particles (smaller than 10 micrometres) penetrate the lung. PM2.5 (smaller than 2.5 micrometres) penetrate the alveoli — and can pass into the bloodstream.
The European Environment Agency estimates: each 10 µg/m³ increase in PM10 raises cardiovascular mortality risk by about 2 per cent.
Extrapolating that to a calima day at 500 µg/m³ — i.e. 450 µg/m³ above background — the effects are measurable. The island population sees it in the emergency rooms.
Travel, flights, events — the protocols
Weather events have concrete consequences in daily life. Knowing the protocols means reacting faster and saving stress.
Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) during calima
LPA is more robust than the mountain airports La Palma or La Gomera, thanks to its flat coastal location.
During intense calima (visibility under 3,000 m), delays of 15 to 55 minutes are still typical — especially with Binter and Canaryfly on inter-island routes. On 31 March 2026, numerous flights across the archipelago were cancelled or diverted (Atlántico Hoy).
What you can do:
- Check the AEMET app and airline app before departure
- During a calima warning, get to the airport 2 hours earlier
- Domestic flights (Binter, Canaryfly): rebooking usually free
- International flights: in case of red warning, demand reimbursement, EU Regulation 261/2004 protects passengers
Ferries — Fred Olsen and Naviera Armas during storms
During Borrasca Therese (19–25 March 2026), Fred Olsen Express cancelled several connections to La Gomera.
On 20 March, three of six daily departures were suspended on the Tenerife–Gran Canaria route (10:00, 14:00, 18:00; 12:00, 16:00, 20:00 ran in both directions). At the same time, eight flights were cancelled at La Palma airport (EFE / Investing).
Event postponement — the hierarchy
On Gran Canaria, the cancellation or postponement of major events follows a clear hierarchy:
1. AEMET issues a weather warning (Yellow, Orange, Red)
2. Gobierno de Canarias activates PEINCA / PEIN (Plan de Emergencias Insular)
3. Ayuntamiento coordinates via PEMU (Plan de Emergencias Municipal)
4. Decision usually 24 to 48 hours before the event
Concrete case 2026: The Gran Cabalgata of the Carnaval Internacional de Maspalomas (planned 21 March) was postponed on 19/20 March to 28 March. Basis: the yellow/orange warnings for wind, rain and coastal phenomena from Therese (Maspalomas.com).
The Hermine benchmark
Tropical storm Hermine in 2022 remains the historical reference for extreme events in air travel: 671 cancelled flights, 65 diversions. With pure calima, the consequences are on average noticeably milder — but on small-island airports operationally noticeable.
What it all means
Gran Canaria has a good climate. That's the truth. But it isn't the whole truth.
If you live here:
Understand the microclimates — north isn't south, coast isn't mountain. Living in the north means more cloud and rain, less heat.
Living in the south means sun almost guaranteed, but the full calima impact in summer. If you have pre-existing conditions — airways, heart — install the ICA app and watch the readings.
If you buy or build here:
Storm insurance is mandatory, not optional. The damage from Therese (€186.8 M) shows the scale. A slope position over open terrain means stronger wind.
Direct coastline means wave risk. The Adapta Costas study by the Canary government lists 47 high-risk coastal stretches — anyone buying there should know that.
If you come as a tourist:
May to mid-June and October are the calmest months — little calima, hardly any storm risk, no high-summer heat.
Anyone wanting Carnival comes in February/March and accepts the weather-loss risk (Therese postponed Carnival 2026). Anyone coming in high summer should choose the south, drink plenty, and stay indoors during calima.
If you're planning an event:
24 to 48 hours before, everything gets decided. AEMET warning, government prealerta, council decision — the chain is clear. Plan a Plan B.
The islands have lived with this weather for centuries. There are protocols, warnings, routines. Anyone who knows them lives safely and plans well.
Anyone who ignores them eventually has an expensive story to tell — like the boat owners in Arguineguín who stayed in port the night Therese arrived.
Weather on the Canary Islands isn't folklore. It's resource and risk at the same time. Taking both seriously is the only sensible attitude.