For the third consecutive day, dense fog disrupted flights at Tenerife North Airport yesterday (Friday). The low visibility and light drizzle caused significant delays and cancellations, affecting 31 flights and stranding many passengers.
The adverse weather conditions forced several aircraft to circle the north of the island for over an hour. Specifically, 13 incoming inter-island flights and 18 outbound flights were cancelled. Two flights were diverted, one from Seville to Tenerife South, and another from Gran Canaria that had to return to its origin.
The fog began affecting the airport on Wednesday at 8:00pm, initially diverting 16 flights to Tenerife South. Although visibility improved slightly on Thursday morning, the fog returned by 7:00pm, causing the airport to be inoperative for almost four hours until 10:45pm. In total, 33 flights were disrupted that day, with 11 cancellations and 17 diversions, primarily to Tenerife South.
The cancellations included flights to Gran Canaria, El Hierro, Madrid, Lanzarote, La Gomera, and La Palma. Additionally, five flights were delayed for more than two hours.
The challenging weather was attributed to the clash between the Saharan air layer and the cooler, humid trade winds at elevations over 600 metres, the altitude of Los Rodeos.
However, while northern Tenerife experiences fog and light rain, the southern regions of Tenerife and Gran Canaria are dealing with a heatwave. Temperatures in San Bartolomé de Tirajana peaked at over 40°C yesterday, with other areas also experiencing extremely high temperatures.
