What changes on Friday for visitors to La Palma?
A rain prealerta covers the whole of La Palma from Friday 6 November at 00:00. The Dirección General de Emergencias, the Canary Islands emergency service, issued it and has not yet set an end time.
The rain is most likely to strengthen in the south of the island, especially on slopes open to the south and west. The authority names no individual places and gives no total in millimetres.
No one has announced closures, school cancellations or called-off events with the prealerta. A beach day or an outing is not banned, but a plan B for Friday does no harm.
There is no information on airports or flights on 6 November. During the rain on 2 November, media reports advised travellers to check flight status and road conditions, and no airport closures were reported then.
What do the authorities advise during a prealerta?
The prealerta is the first level of the Canary Islands’ emergency plan for severe weather, known as PEFMA (Plan Específico de Emergencias de Canarias por Riesgos de Fenómenos Meteorológicos Adversos). Above it come alerta and alerta máxima.
At this level the authority puts the emergency services of the island government (Cabildo) and the municipalities on standby. The public is asked to be especially alert.
Emergencias advises against crossing barrancos (ravines that carry water when it rains) and areas at risk of flooding. Drivers should take particular care on stretches with standing water or poor visibility.
People should neither stand nor park beside slopes and embankments at risk of landslides. Walkers are best off skipping ravines and hillside paths that day.
In November 2024, during an earlier rain episode, the authorities also recommended checking roofs, terraces and drains, and keeping a torch and drinking water ready for power cuts. The emergency number is 112, and information is available on 012.
What happened on La Palma on 1 and 2 November?
On Monday 2 November, La Palma was on the highest level, alerta máxima, from 02:00. The trigger, according to the government, was 62 litres per square metre in one hour in the east of the island.
The east collected 138 litres within twelve hours. In five hours, 181.3 litres fell in the medianías (mid-altitude areas) of Breña Baja, 76.2 litres at the airport and 46.6 litres in Santa Cruz de La Palma.
The same day, El Hierro and La Gomera were on alerta, and Tenerife and Gran Canaria on prealerta. The government called the location, intensity and duration of the showers highly uncertain.
Media reports said water entered homes and shops, drains overflowed in Breña Alta and Breña Baja, and the power failed overnight. The reports gave no figures for the damage.
Why does the government warn so often on La Palma in autumn?
On 1 October 2026 the government declared an alerta for the north and east of La Palma (declaration 60/2026/PEFMA). Up to 80 millimetres in twelve hours were expected, later up to 150 millimetres.
On Thursday 22 October an orange warning applied to La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. The rain alert ended on Friday 23 October at 07:00.
Spain’s highest reading on 22 October came from San Andrés y Sauces on La Palma, with 60 litres per square metre by 20:00. On 17 November 2024 the weather service AEMET had forecast up to 100 millimetres in twelve hours for La Palma.
The north and east, the side facing the wind, usually get the most rain. This time the authority names the south as particularly at risk, and no long-term statistics of warnings are available.
What is still unclear and what happens next?
It is unclear when the prealerta ends and whether it will be raised to an alerta. AEMET’s own warning levels and times for La Palma on 6 November could not be found.
How the weather will turn out over the weekend of 7 and 8 November is not known. There is also no information on calima (dust haze) or on warning levels on other islands on 6 November.
Emergencias will adjust the level as soon as the AEMET data change, but gives no date for the next update. Anyone out on La Palma on Friday can find changes on the warning pages of the Gobierno de Canarias and AEMET.