What should visitors and residents watch for on 11 November?

La Palma is under the red wind warning on Wednesday 11 November from 03:00 to 11:59. Aemet expects gusts of up to 130 km/h in that window, with a probability of 40 to 70 per cent.

For red, Aemet gives a clear instruction: “Do not travel unless absolutely necessary”. The south-westerly wind hits the summits hardest, along with the north-west and east-south-east slopes.

Trips to high ground should therefore be dropped for the morning. All the other islands are on orange, the level for major danger.

If you have booked hikes, boat trips or drives to exposed coasts there, ask your operator first. The Canary Islands government urges extreme caution on exposed coasts, especially at high tide, and visitors should avoid piers, breakwaters, unprotected promenades and surf zones.

Where does which warning level apply?

On La Palma the orange wind warning starts on Tuesday 10 November at 18:00. At 03:00 on Wednesday it jumps to red.

Aemet sets orange at gusts of 110 km/h, and yellow begins at 70 km/h. On La Palma yellow applies from 12:00 to 15:59, but reports do not clearly describe the orange stage in between.

In Aemet’s alert text, red covers the west of La Palma. Reports instead speak of the whole island, including the summits, east and west, and a final boundary is still to be set.

Rain adds to the picture: La Palma is on orange for rain on Wednesday from 03:00 to 13:59. Aemet expects up to 30 litres per square metre in one hour and up to 60 litres in twelve hours.

The coastal warning is yellow from Tuesday 18:00 to Wednesday 17:59. Aemet forecasts south-westerly wind of 50 to 61 km/h (force 7) and north-westerly swell of 3 to 4 metres.

What has the Canary Islands government decided?

From Tuesday evening the Dirección General de Emergencias (the regional emergency authority) has declared “alerta máxima”, its top alert. It covers wind on La Palma and on the Tenerife summits.

The authority expects gusts of up to 140 km/h in the east and north of La Palma and up to 120 km/h on the western slope. That is its own regional forecast and not the same as Aemet’s 130 km/h.

On Tenerife it expects about 120 km/h along the north-west ridge and up to roughly 136 km/h on the summits around Teide. This holds until about 13:00 on Wednesday, and the wind should ease gradually from 09:00.

A “prealerta”, the preliminary level, applies to El Hierro, La Gomera, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. Tenerife outside the summits is included.

The Consejería de Educación (regional education ministry) has suspended classroom teaching on Wednesday on La Palma and La Graciosa. On La Palma the reason is the red warning and top alert, on La Graciosa the coastal warning.

What is known about flights, ferries and roads?

There are no confirmed closures or cancellations of flights, ferries or roads so far. Based on the information available, the airport operator AENA has not reported anything concrete either.

Headlines mention that the Cabildo (island government) of La Palma has activated its emergency plan, and Los Llanos de Aridane its municipal plan. A warning message via ES-Alert is also said to have been sent, but the content of the measures is not confirmed.

A look back at April 2025: Aemet then also issued red for the east of La Palma, with gusts of up to 130 km/h. According to AENA, 41 flights were cancelled on 3 April, 36 of them on La Palma, where the airport did not operate all day.

If you plan to fly or take a ferry on 11 November, check the status with your airline or ferry company. That applies above all to connections to and from La Palma.

How long will the storm last?

The cause is the Atlantic low Charles, the third high-impact storm of this season. Low Bruna had already crossed the islands before it.

On Wednesday red runs until 11:59, the rain warning until 13:59 and the coastal warning until 17:59. We have found no decision so far on classes for Thursday 12 November.

High tide runs from 01:40 to 02:05 and from 14:00 to 14:25. The tidal coefficients fall from 77 on Tuesday to 71 on Wednesday, 64 on Thursday and 55 on Friday.

It is still open how large the red zone will finally be, what damage is possible and whether the warning will be extended beyond 11:59. Aemet’s warnings page shows the current levels.