Closer but insignificant quake off north coast

Just a few days after the locally felt tremor off the north-western coast of La Gomera another seismic tremor averaging just 1,6 (with a peak value of 2,2 mbLg at GOM station) on the Richter scale was registered less than 25 hours ago a short distance off La Gomera's north-north-eastern coast in a depth of 15.2  kms. Quakes of such a minor strenght are inappreciable and happen frequently in and around the Canary Islands, but are rare near La Gomera's coastline. Read more...

Minor earthquake felt in La Gomera

The red star (left) shows the epicentre of the minor earth tremor

A minor earth tremor averaging 2.8 on the Richter scale occurred at a depth of only eight kilometres in the Atlantic very close to La Gomera's west-north-western coast at around 11:10 pm late Tuesday night, January 22nd 2019

This is nothing to worry about, as La Gomera's former volcanoes are long extinct and the island has not experienced any volcanic activity for far more than a million years, being one of the oldest islands in the Canaries. La Gomera existed long before the volcanically very active neighbouring island of El Hierro was even born. However, the abundant seismic activity in and around the Canary Islands rarely comes as close and in such shallow depth as Tuesday night's minor earth tremor.

Generally volcanic activity in the Canaries is of a 'mild nature', but magma movements deep under and around the Canary Islands cause regular tremors. It is however a rare occurrence that such a quake is registered by the seismic station situated in the mountains of the national park with an epicentre so close to La Gomera, and last night's tremors were felt by the population in La Gomera's sparsely populated west and north, see the pointers in the map above, which the show locations of verified reports published by the Spanish National Geographic Institute (IGN). This quake also registered at all seismic stations in neighbouring islands, with the peak value 3.9 having been recorded at the station in La Gomera (EGOM)  a few seconds before 23:10h, at the start of the tremor.

The last minor quake recorded close to La Gomera was recorded in September 2017, see previous post...

Evento	Fecha	Hora UTC	Hora Local (*)	Latitud	Longitud	Profundidad (km)	Magnitud	Tipo Mag.	Int. max.	Localizacion
es2019apdcj	22/01/2019	23:09:47	23:09:47	28.2262	-17.5079	8	2.8	mbLg	II	ATLÁNTICO-CANARIAS

Earthquake felt in Tenerife and Gran Canaria

The red star shows the epicentre and the pointers indicate locations where the quake was reportedly felt

A 4.2 magnitude earthquake was felt his morning at 6.36am according to the Spanish National Geographic Institute (IGN). The institute's stations spread across the Canaries registered a seismic movement with its epicentre located in the Atlantic between the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, at a depth of 14.3 kilometres.

The tremors which lasted about one minute were felt in several municipalities of both islands and some people there were woken up by the quake. According the National Geographic Institute’s records, the earthquake reached a peak magnitude of 4.6 within a few seconds of starting. Another three very minor quakes were detected in the same area at between 1.7 and 1.9 magnitude before the stronger one. There were no reports of any damage.

The sea area between these two islands experiences minor earthquakes very regularly and today's slightly stronger one would still be seen as part of normal seismic activity in this area, so please ignore any alarmist reports that some irresponsible media sources have published (e.g. The Express (UK) ran the sensationalist headline: ''TENERIFE EARTHQUAKE: Atlantic smashed by 4.2 magnitude quake near La Palma volcano''.) Yeah La Palma, where doom to 'smash' us all is supposedly brewing below the surface, had to be mentioned again. Sorry but the only word for that headline, and for the La Palma doomsday scenario hype of a few years ago, is BULLSHIT !

Replica of Columbus' ship in La Gomera

A fine replica of Christopher Columbus' flagship Nao Santa Maria with which he discovered the new world on his epic voyage in 1492 is visiting San Sebastian de La Gomera now. Columbus made a final and longer stop in the same La Gomera port before crossing the Atlantic in 1492. The replica was built by a foundation in southern Spain (Fundacion Nao Victoria) which builds replicas of legendary vessels and boats and then sails them along historic routes. The Santa Maria is now retracing the steps of Columbus and berthed in her final port of call before crossing the Atlantic to Puerto Rico. The 90 ft exact replica 200 ton sailing vessel is open to the public from 2-6 pm now and this weekend including Sunday, November 25th 2018, all day from 10 am to 6 pm. The boarding fee is just 4 Euros per adult or € 10 for a family of four.

Risk of showers continues

Valle Gran Rey during a shower this morning. Ten minutes later it cleared up again

Yesterday La Gomera received the first more substantial rainfalls of this winter season, as did most of the Canary Islands. I collected 11mm of precipitation, while the official weather station near the mountain village of Arure at about 3000ft above the coast of Valle Gran Rey got 30.4 mm. Most of that rain fell during the first half of the day and it brightened up during the afternoon. Down in the valley there was very little wind, but in the mountains it was a different picture where the station on La Gomera's second highest mountain, the Alto de Igualero, recorded a gust of 101 km/h.

The forecast for the next few days is for cloudy periods with some scattered showers, these most likely in the mornings in the mountains and the north, but all areas are at risk. There will be good sunny spells in the southern half of La Gomera at times. Winds should be mostly moderate, fresh in the mountains, mainly from NW. Temperatures will reach the low twenties in southern coastal areas in the afternoons, but will struggle to reach the low teens up in the mountains. The heavy 4-5m Atlantic swell will gradually decrease, but waves will still be up to 2m high on exposed coasts by Wednesday. 

Hurricane Leslie: will it affect Canary Islands ? Updated

Hurricane Leslie yesterday evening with the Canary Islands and the Moroccan coastline on the right

The tropical storm system named 'Leslie'  has been meandering in the Atlantic for 19 (!) days now without having made up its mind where to finally dissipate. Most of that time it was, and still is, a powerful large hurricane with a current central pressure of 969 hPa and maximum winds exceeding 150 km/h. It is now situated about 730 kms SSW of the Azores and rapidly moving with increasing forward speed towards the island of Madeira, where the first ever tropical storm warning has been issued. Some models suggest that it may finally dissipate near or over the Canary Islands as a remnant low from Sunday, Oct. 14th 2018. There may be some stronger winds up to gale force and the heavy swell generated by Leslie may affect the Canary Islands as well as some showers and the odd thunderstorm, but it seems unlikely that it will be a weather system of great significance, if any, in these islands. According to several models it should turn more to the north towards the Iberian peninsula and not affect the Canaries at all, but other models are in disagreement. Here's an extract from a bulletin of the National Hurricane Centre in Miami explaining the situation and the various track forecasts:

''...The initial motion is now 065/24.  The guidance is in good agreement that this general motion should continue for 24 h or so. After that, there is a major model divergence.  The GFS, ECMWF, and the various consensus models now show a continued east-northeast motion until landfall in Portugal or Spain.  On the other hand, the UKMET, UK ensemble mean, and Canadian models show a turn toward the south and then back to the west (- which would bring it to the Canaries - Ed.) Since the previous forecast showed a southward and westward turn, the new forecast track will also follow this scenario.  However, it is shifted well to the east of the previous track due to the forecasts of the other models. Needless to say, the latter portion of the track forecast is low confidence.

Leslie should gradually weaken as it approaches Madeira Island during the next 24-36 h. After that, the intensity forecast is dependent on what track the cyclone takes.  If it follows the GFS/ECMWF scenario, the system would likely make landfall on the Iberian peninsula and quickly dissipate.  If it follows the UKMET scenario, a combination of shear, cool water, and dry air entrainment should cause weakening.  Since the track forecast is closer to the UKMET scenario, the intensity forecast follows the previous forecast in having Leslie decay to a post-tropical low by 72 h.  However, this is also a low confidence forecast due to the uncertainties in the track forecast. ...''

In 2005 when hurricane Delta powered up again after having almost disintegrated west  of the Canaries and gradually regained tropical characteristics, it was briefly a subtropical storm on November 22, then moved erratically for a few days before moving towards the Canary Islands. It became a powerful extratropical storm just before it passed to the north of the archipelago bringing severe disruption, widespread damage, and claiming seven lives there. However, please note that this was a different and very unusual scenario and most unlikely to be repeated by Leslie, and current indications are that it will not bring any disruptions.

The Spanish and the Canarian authorities have not issued any alerts or warnings for Leslie, but are monitoring the situation under a pre-alert for the western Canaries. However, a warning for strong winds and heavy seas has been issued for the high seas area called 'Madeira' which includes the high seas just north of the Canaries. Some cruise ships which were scheduled to cross the Atlantic westward are now sheltering in the Canaries until the system has dissipated.
UPDATE edited 10:30 pm, Oct.12th 2018:
The latest model runs all predict that Leslie will pass the Canary Islands much further to the north (see latest graphics below to compare with the earlier one above) and instead of having an impact here will instead affect the Iberian peninsula. Below a quote from the latest bulletin of the NHC in Florida:
''...Leslie is moving quickly east-northeastward on the southern side of a powerful longwave
trough centered over the north Atlantic. The track forecast reasoning has changed since the last advisory, with the GFS, ECMWF, and now the 06Z run of the UKMET all showing a more eastward motion of Leslie toward the Iberian Peninsula as the cyclone is picked u by the aforementioned trough. The new NHC track forecast has been adjusted significantly to the north and east, especially beyond 24 hours...
...Key Messages:
1. Leslie is expected to bring near hurricane-force winds on Saturday to portions of Portugal as a powerful post-tropical cyclone. Tropical-storm-force winds are also likely to affect portions of western Spain.
2. Leslie is expected to produce rainfall amounts of 25 to 75 mm (1 to 3 inches) with isolated amounts as high as 100 mm (4 inches) across portions of Portugal and Spain, which could cause flash flooding. ...''

Significant swell

Today and until Monday a very powerful Atlantic swell will be running in the seas of the western Canary Islands, due to a very deep depression near the bay of Biscay. Be cautious near the shore.

New Year's Eve fiesta

Finally the town hall has released a poster for tonight's main fiesta in the harbour of Vueltas, Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera (see yesterday's party tips). The salsa bands are poshly called orchestras (orquestas) here and will start at 11pm for dancing into the small hours of 2015. The Spanish 'Nochevieja', literally 'old night', means New Years Eve.