Storm's beautiful and beneficial side

Storm 'Therese' which badly affected the Canary Islands for a full week is now history and the damage it did will take some time to repair, but it also had a very beneficial side. It brought lots more badly needed rain after years of drought to end a winter that was was colder and more rainy than average in the archipelago. Most irrigation-water reservoirs are now full and overflowing. I took above image many years ago, when this reservoir, the Presa de La Quintana near Arure in La Gomera's Valle Gran Rey municipality, was full to capacity after heavy rains. It had been almost empty for years, but is now overflowing once more, guaranteeing irrigation water for the fields below for 2-3 years. The land you can see in the distance just above the dam is the southernmost Canary Island of El Hierro.

Now, I'd also like to share the beautiful image below of the waterfall at Chorro del Lance in Guada (upper Valle Gran Rey) which is only seen occasionally after copious precipitation. The church of San Antonio is in the foreground with the main road curled around it. The prayers for rain in that church were certainly heard. This well composed and executed photo was taken by ©Mauricio Zanello after the first heavy rains of the storm, but before the final deluge.

A very happy and peaceful Easter to you all !

A welcome return to normal winter weather

Valle Gran Rey at 9 am this morning after a light shower

This winter all of December and the first half of January easterly dry winds with spells of Calima have dominated the weather in The Canary Islands, worsening the general drought. Finally the winds have returned to the more normal northerly directions, clearing the air and bringing some well-scattered light showers today. Even though high pressure is set to continue to dominate our weather, some more light to moderate showers of short duration are expected which will mostly affect northern areas, but the odd one might also fall in the south. This weather pattern is forecast to continue over the coming days. Moderate to fresh northerly winds will bring the temperature down a bit, but there will be good sunny periods, too, especially in the south where the temperature will reach the low twenties in the afternoon. The sea temperature still averages 20-21ºC around La Gomera, so it's not too cold for a swim.

A reminder: Please save water, as even La Gomera's abundant water supply is not an infinite resource and there hasn't been any significant rainfall for more than five years...

Valle Gran Rainbow

There were a few light to moderate showers in La Gomera's north and in the mountain regions over the weekend, and a few drops of light rain in Valle Gran Rey producing rainbows like the one above. However, the forecast is  for mostly dry weather in the coming days and while the few showers brought a bit of welcome moisture to the parched landscape, the drought continues.

Drought leads to water rationing in capital

Parched terraced farm land in La Gomera's north

The severe drought which is affecting the Canary Islands has now begun to affect the drinking water supply even on La Gomera, which normally has an abundant supply of spring water. Recently the council of the capital San Sebastian de La Gomera introduced emergency measures to ensure a sufficient supply to the taps of the town. Water in specific districts will be cut off in rotation at night from 11pm until 7am when supplies have fallen, in a measure to allow the supply to be maintained everywhere during the day. It is generally prohibited to use drinking water to wash cars, water gardens, etc. Public green areas will be irrigated with recycled and purified waste water. The town has already installed pressure-reducing valves in many locations to conserve water and is continuing to repair any leaking pipes.

Rainfall has been below average in the Canary Islands for four consecutive years now and the situation is grave, particularly for agriculture. In October and November of this year only 25% of the average amount of precipitation for this period fell in the Canaries. Crops have failed or couldn't be sown, fruit trees died and many irrigation-water reservoirs are completely empty. The low humidity, unseasonal heat and lack of rain have also led to a proliferation of pests and plant diseases. The beekeepers of La Gomera report that honey production is down to just 40% of normal because of the drought, and many wild bees are literally dying of hunger while beekeepers are having to feed their bees with sugared water.

Tourists and visitors hardly notice anything abnormal, except for the less green countryside, as the taps and showers still run. I don't want to sound alarmist, but I would appeal to all to please use La Gomera's water sparingly and help conserve what's left of the island's precious resource. Unlike the other Canary islands we don't have desalination plants to supply the tourism infrastructure on La Gomera, and even if some rain may fall soon it will take a lot of rain over a longer period of time to percolate deeply to feed the springs and to return the water deposits to normal levels.

A few welcome showers

Finally we had a couple of light showers in Valle Gran Rey, like the one in the image above which I took last night showing the precious drops of rain. There's a nice fresh smell in the air this morning. The coming week should be mostly sunny.

Back to blue skies and drought

The first image shows the sky in Valle Gran Rey at dusk last night and the second was taken this morning. The low which stayed west of the Canary Islands for several days causing alarm and threatened to bring a lot of rain and wind is now dissipating. There were lots of thunderstorms near the islands still last night, but only a few scattered moderate showers came down over the weekend, and the drought continues. The high pressure over North Africa won out and the dry air from it consumed and blocked the moisture-laden air that the Atlantic depression had steered our way. Locals here were not impressed, but some are now depressed as their crops suffer.

Severe drought

Percentage of available water: Less than 10% of La Gomera's average. (Muy seco = very dry)

We're entering the last week of November and the severe drought in the Canary Islands continues. Most water reservoirs and tanks are empty and agriculture is badly affected. Many farmers are desperately waiting for rain to be able to plant crops in the currently barren and parched fields. While the wells that supply drinking water on La Gomera still produce a good volume of water, even the soil in the forest of the national park is too dry for this time of the year. So please use water sparingly, even if it does rain as predicted this weekend (see 'Weather' on sidebar).

Dry winter causing worry

Farmland near Vallehermoso, La Gomera

While the very dry winter in the Canary Islands this year may be exactly what tourists expect and want to experience when they spend their holidays here, the prolonged drought is a worrying fact for locals and especially the farming community. 

Some rain fell in October and November but there was hardly a drop since then and February continues the same trend. Farming has been particularly badly affected and the Canarian minister for agriculture has recently stated in parliament that potato crops for example could be down by as much as 50-60 % this winter season. 

Here in La Gomera there were some heavier falls of rain in the island's north and northeast, almost filling some water reservoirs used for irrigation, but the rest of the island got very little rain, so that some farmers didn't even bother planting crops that need the winter precipitation. Some bored wells in lower farmland near the sea have also been reported to gradually become more saline and potentially damaging to banana crops.

The drinking water supply which comes almost exclusively from tapped springs here has remained fairly stable up to now. However the administration  of the municipality of Vallerhermoso in La Gomera's northwest, an area normally receiving abundant rainfalls in winter, has restricted the use of drinking water and banned its use for the watering of plants and gardens as well as washing cars as a precautionary measure during the drought.

Water reservoir for irrigation in Las Rosas in La Gomera's north is still almost full after heavy autumn rain in the area