Severe weather eases across the Canary Islands but La Palma stays on orange alert

Open Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro The orange-level warnings have expired, and the severe weather situation is therefore changing.

On Wednesday, the orange alert will remain in force only for La Palma. The AEMET has issued a warning for the whole island from 10.00 am until midnight, forecasting heavy rain of up to 30 millimetres in an hour, with the meteorological office putting the probability at between 40 and 70 per cent.

According to the authorities, the heavy rain is mainly affecting the areas of Breña Baja, Breña Alta and Santa Cruz de La Palma. In addition, there are two yellow rain warnings forecasting up to 60 millimetres of rain in twelve hours: the first applies to the west of the island and has been in force since 7 am, the second to the mountainous region and the east from 6 pm. Both remain in force until midnight.

Since last night, the situation on La Palma has changed several times. In the early hours of the morning, AEMET raised the wind warning for La Palma to red, whilst an orange warning was already in place due to heavy rain. The yellow rain warnings for the other islands remain in place until Thursday.

A yellow rain warning is in force on Tenerife until Thursday morning

On Tenerife, the wind had been at orange alert since Tuesday evening, before the island later became the first to drop back to yellow. The whole island is now on yellow alert due to rain, from 10.00 on Wednesday until 7.59 on Thursday. The AEMET is forecasting up to 15 millimetres in an hour; the probability is the same as on La Palma. According to the weather service, showers in the north of the island are particularly likely to be accompanied by thunderstorms.

The yellow warning is in force from 10.00 on Wednesday until 11.59 on Thursday, including on Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, with rainfall of up to 15 millimetres per hour. Thunderstorms are not ruled out by the AEMET, particularly on the easternmost islands. El Hierro and La Gomera will see the situation ease sooner, despite the same amount of rainfall; there, the yellow warning ends on Thursday at 4.59 am.

Rain and thunderstorms can cause large volumes of water to be released in the higher elevations of La Palma and Gran Canaria, which then flow down through the barrancos to the coast. You should therefore exercise particular caution in the ravines and their immediate surroundings.