La Gomera: orange rain warning, 30 litres an hour, 2 Nov

What does the orange warning mean for visitors and residents?

La Gomera is under an orange warning for rain within one hour on Monday 2 November 2026. Up to 30 litres per square metre can fall in that time, Diario de Avisos reports, citing AEMET.

The Canary Islands government has also declared an alert status (situación de alerta) for La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro since 00:00 on Monday. According to La Gaceta de Canarias, the Dirección General de Emergencias activated the civil protection special plan for severe weather.

No verified source reported road closures, school closures or ES-Alert messages for La Gomera on 2 November. Anyone with a ferry or flight booked should check with the operator or airline as a precaution, although no cancellations are known so far.

The sources checked gave no specific rules of conduct for the day. General civil protection advice, which does not come from a notice for this day, is to avoid barrancos (ravines) and mountain roads and to follow 112 Canarias.

When does the warning apply, and where exactly?

Diario de Avisos says it runs from midnight on Monday until 23:59. That is the only time window the paper gives.

The sources do not say which parts of the island are hit harder. Current times and any changes are on the AEMET warnings page.

Diario de Avisos puts the chance of thunderstorms on La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro at 40 to 70 per cent. It describes persistent, locally heavy showers with thunderstorms on La Palma and La Gomera.

The government admits considerable uncertainty, La Gaceta de Canarias reports. It is unclear where, how hard and for how long it will rain.

Why are there an orange warning and an alert status at the same time?

AEMET uses yellow, orange and red to rate the weather itself. The Canary Islands government rates the risk to civil protection separately, as Prealerta, Alerta and Alerta máxima.

These levels are set out in the PEFMA, the Plan Específico de Emergencias por Fenómenos Meteorológicos Adversos (the specific emergency plan for severe weather), approved by Decreto 18/2014 of 20 March. This comes from a BOC search result found during research, and the document itself was not opened.

A Prealerta means authorities prepare, activate protocols and inform the public. An orange warning from AEMET does not automatically trigger an Alerta in the Canary Islands.

An unverified search result on the AEMET Meteoalerta plan gives the orange threshold for rain as 30 millimetres in one hour or 100 millimetres in twelve hours. The original document could not be loaded.

Tenerife is on yellow, with 20 litres per square metre per hour in the north and the capital area, and 15 litres in the east, south and west. Gran Canaria is on Prealerta, while Lanzarote and Fuerteventura only have isolated showers, according to Diario de Avisos.

How did the last orange episode on 22 October go?

On 22 October 2026, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro were already under orange and alert status, both from 00:00. According to RTVC, up to 30 millimetres an hour and 100 millimetres in twelve hours were forecast.

The government lifted the alert status at 07:00 on Friday 23 October, RTVC reports. AEMET recorded that day's highest figure, 60 litres per square metre, in San Andrés y Sauces on La Palma, and the page checked gave no figure for La Gomera.

In March 2026, Storm Therese brought orange and up to 86 litres per square metre in 24 hours to La Gomera, according to media reports. Valle Gran Rey and Alajeró were hit hardest, and the island moved to emergency level 2 with 40 soldiers of the military emergency unit UME, 20 Policía Canaria officers and ten extra civil protection vehicles.

More than 100 call-outs were under way from 14:00. The GM-1 road at the Yorima tunnel stayed shut because of landslide risk, and bus lines 1, 6 and 8 to Valle Gran Rey did not run.

Schools cut afternoon and evening classes and closed entirely on 26 March. Fred. Olsen Express added a 05:15 departure so travellers could reach their flights on Tenerife.

Why does heavy rain hit La Gomera so often?

The research counts at least four orange rain episodes on La Gomera in 2026: March, July, August and October.

The island is cut by deep, radiating barrancos, for example in Hermigua and Valle Gran Rey. According to geography material from the research, they drain rainwater quickly, and the highlands and north get more rain than the coast and south.

After Therese, the island’s reservoirs held about 4 million cubic metres against a maximum of 5 million, RTVC reported on 30 March. Amalahuigue in Agulo, the largest reservoir, stood at only about 20 per cent.

RTVC said the water should last through the dry summer, after severe drought a year earlier. The sources do not give damage or costs for 2026, or who pays them.

What is still unknown, and what happens next?

The sources checked had no readings, incidents, road closures or conditions in Garajonay National Park for 2 November. It also remained open whether AEMET will update the warning or raise it to red.

La Gaceta de Canarias writes that the episode will continue on Tuesday 3 November with lower intensity.

The government has not yet named a time for the alert status to end. The sources contain no forecast for 4 November or later.