Some rain from this weekend (updated)

Rain shower in upper Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera (Archive image)

Some welcome rain is forecast for the Canary Islands from this weekend and especially in the early days of the coming week. The rain will be in the form of light to moderate showers and will mostly affect northern and mountain regions in La Gomera, while the south will be less at risk and there should be good sunny spells, too. Winds will be mostly light to moderate with maximum temperatures in the mid twenties ºC. 
UPDATE: 
For Monday, Oct.22nd 2018, more widespread showers are predicted, some may be heavy and accompanied by isolated thunderstorms.
For the days after that more showers are expected, again with the risk of isolated thunderstorms, but there'll be good sunny periods, especially in the south, too.

Road improvements near Arure

The village of Arure  (Archive)

The main road which leads through the mountain village of Arure and on to Valle Gran Rey is to be improved very soon. There is a stretch of road just before arriving at the first houses of Arure after leaving the national park which is currently very narrow with lots of dangerous bends where trucks and buses going in opposite directions can't even pass each other, often leading to delays and minor accidents. The added complication in this mountain area at about 3.000 ft altitude is the often reduced visibility due to mist and fog.

Now this length of road of about 1.300 metres is to be widened and the worst bends will be straightened to improve road safety. The government of the Canary Islands will spend 1,5 million Euros on the project and has already put the works out to tender with a stipulated time for execution of nine months. The sensitive environment so close to the national park will be respected by sticking as much as possible to the existing route and any palm trees that are in the way will be replanted close by. The works are badly needed on this busy road which is the main artery supplying Valle Gran Rey, the second most populous municipal area of La Gomera and the most visited by tourists. 

Rainbow

There was just one light short shower in Valle Gran Rey yesterday evening which brought this rainbow. The weather generally is settling and even though there still could be the odd shower today it will be mostly sunny and warm.

The Wandering Oil Rig Mystery

The tug turning the rig just south off Valle Gran Rey yesterday morning

The rig that was reported and viewed passing La Gomera on Sunday is still around... and doing rounds between the islands. This morning it was seen again close to La Gomera and being towed past Valle Gran Rey's southern approach. In the past few days it has been spotted off the coast of southern Tenerife, off La Gomera and it just keeps going around in circles  between the western islands of Tenerife, La Gomera and El Hierro. The 86m tug that's towing the rig is named Pacific Champion, registered in Singapore, built only a couple of years ago in 2011 with a GT of 4566 tons, and its last registered port of call was Las Palmas de Gran Canaria about a month ago. Rumours are doing the rounds (including one that says it is a rig that is to dredge material from the bottom of the sea for the new harbour in Tazacorte on La Palma to replace another dredger that capsized) but personally I think that it is an oil rig which is just waiting for the right weather conditions to be towed across the Atlantic (or to go wherever) after a refit in the docks of Gran Canaria which specialise in that kind of rig-refitting work. It probably won't be looking for oil, gas, nor anything else around the western Canaries, I think. How many more erratic circles until it goes away ? I'm tracking it and will let you know here if there are any interesting developments..., but just a while ago at around midnight it was heading at 3.4 knots (slowly) towards south of La Gomera again from the southern tip of Tenerife. As a neighbour said: ''Maybe they want us to get accustomed to the sight of rigs !?'' - Naw !

Mind you, oil exploration remains the hottest poltical potato in the Canary Islands.

UPDATE 13-03-14, 10pm:
The rig towed by the tug stopped over in Santa Cruz de Tenerife harbour today around noon. The tug Pacific Champion went on to berth in the harbour of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria later tonight - whether with or without the rig is not known to me. Get the spy-glasses out over there! This ends the many loops in the sea of the tandem in the western Canaries for now.

Strange bird sighted on La Gomera

The Canarian Beer Bottle Bird (Spinturnix Ampullae Canariensis)
Spotted recently at a local watering hole