Tenerife weather - Sail the sea of clouds

A little while ago Andrea Montgomery wrote about the weather phenomenon that exists in the north of Tenerife, referred to locally as panza de burro - “the belly of the donkey”.

This is characteristic of almost all of the Canary Islands and consists of an accumulation of clouds at low altitude that acts as a sunscreen that cools everything below it. The phenomenon is a result of the action of the Trade Winds, which, blowing from the north, push the clouds against the mountain slopes, producing an accumulation of cloud on the northern elevation of the islands up to an altitude of 1,500 meters.

(The satellite image above clearly shows the accumulation of cloud on the north of Tenerife and also to the north of the island of La Palma.)

On the slopes where the clouds hit, this produces horizontal rain (the cloud is right there, so the rain no longer needs to "fall" to reach the ground) and the high level of humidity supports exuberant vegetation, which includes the fertile farmland, terraces of vines, as well as the remains of the laurisilva - laurel cloud or rain - forest.

If you live among the hills and valleys of the north, you soon get used to being at cloud level as the terrain acts like a cloud bowl and cloud billows towards you.

On the upside: The mar de nubes - "sea of clouds" is the panza de burro - “the belly of the donkey”, as seen from above. (Photo: Miguel Ángel Caro Bayo)

This horizontal accumulation of stratocumulus clouds, which occurs at approx. 500 to 1,500 meters, loaded with humidity in it's lower section, explains the phenomenon of thermal inversion - in which the temperatures above the cloud line are higher than those down under the cloud cover.

Whilst it's possible that you've flown through cloud before, there is something eerie, weird and, at the same time exciting the first time you actually drive up into the clouds. Open the window at your own peril: the chill factor and the humidity are much stronger than with fog!

But if it's a cloudy day below, this is an ideal opportunity to go up into the mountains. What you miss by not being able to see other islands clearly because of the cloud cover is more than made up for by getting up into the sunshine and when you look out on that vast sea of clouds that spreads out before you.

If you don't drive up the mountain, you can always take the bus. Route 342 leaves from Playa de las Americas and Los Cristianos in the south and the 348 goes to the Teide National Park from Puerto de la Cruz in the north of the island.

And, of course, the trade winds that bring this sea of clouds is useful for other reasons too. There's windsurfing, sailing and cruising today.

And who could forget that chap who must have made much use of those prevailing winds as he sailed past in the summer of 1492 on his way to ... getting lost!