The State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) are predicting that this summer will be warmer than usual and one of the hottest on record in the Canary Islands. They have put the probability of this at more than 70% after a dry spring, which is a high percentage in weather forecasting terms.
The director of the AEMET Meteorological Center in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Víctor Quintero, has verified that the three months of March, April, and May 2023 were the warmest since 1961, when records began, with an average temperature of 19.6°C in the province of Las Palmas, +1.8°C hotter than normal, and 17.1°C in Santa Cruz de Tenerife which is 2.0°C higher than usual.
There were very high temperatures in practically all areas of the archipelago in March and April, the warmest since 1961, and May has been confirmed as the eleventh hottest on record.
Temperature records were broken in Arona (Tenerife) with 37.5°C on March 31st, in Mogán (Gran Canaria) with 37.1ºC on March 30th, and in Los Llanos de Aridane (La Palma) which reached 36.5°C on the 31st as well.
He also highlighted that spring was the driest since 1961, especially in the northeast of Tenerife which is traditionally one of the areas with the most precipitation, with only 21% of normal precipitation of just 11 litres per square metre.
When this precipitation is broken down, there was just 4.5 litres/m2 in the eastern province of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura, 18.9 litres/m2 in the west, which is Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro.
