Santa Cruz de Tenerife (EFE) in that month since 1961, with maximums above 30 degrees.
They are part of the data provided this Monday by the director of the Meteorological Center of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Víctor Quintero, who detailed the climate balance for the spring of 2023 in a press conference in which He was accompanied by the sub-delegate of the Government in said province, Javier Plata.
Víctor Quintero pointed out that this quarter has been extremely warm in the archipelago, the warmest since 1961, with an average temperature of 18.6 degrees Celsius and an anomaly of 1.9 degrees Celsius.
By province, the average temperature in Las Palmas was 19.9 degrees and 17.1 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and in general, high temperatures have been recorded in all areas of the archipelago with the only exception of a strip from the north of Tenerife, where spring has been “warm to dry”, said Víctor Quintero.
On the contrary, there have been areas in the midlands of Gran Canaria where temperatures have exceeded 23 degrees this quarter.
For months, March has been very or extremely warm with an average temperature of 19.8 degrees, April very warm and an average of 18.4 degrees, and May warm or very warm in the lowlands and normal in the highlands, and a average temperature of 18.7 degrees.
Practically the entire quarter has had temperatures above normal values, with the exception of the second half of May and the warm episode registered in March stands out especially, with eight days with an average maximum above 25 degrees, with which those registered in the same month of 1990 were exceeded, when there was a similar episode lasting six days.
In fact, a maximum of 37.7 degrees was recorded at the Aemet station in Tenerife South; 37, 5 in those of Arona and 37.1 in Mogán (Gran Canaria) on March 30 and 31.
June has also begun with average temperatures above the normal values for that month and anomalies of 2 degrees Celsius on the 7th, indicated Víctor Quintero, who pointed out that the rise in temperatures in spring has become a common trend in the last 50 years.
It is the warmest spring regardless of the forecast source, because if the European ERA5 records are taken into account, it is the warmest since 1940.
As for precipitation, it is the driest spring since 1961 with an average rainfall of 11 liters per millimeter, 21 percent of what is expected in said quarter in the Canary Islands.
Specifically, in the province of Las Palmas, spring has been extremely dry, with an average of 4.5 millimeters and 15 percent of normal precipitation, and in Santa Cruz de Tenerife it has been very dry with 18.9 millimeters and a 24 percent of usual.
In this regard, Quintero referred to the extremely dry nature that spring has had on the northeastern slope of Tenerife.
On this island, the record for the lowest rainfall in the historical series has been set at the Aemet station in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, with 1.4 millimeters compared to the 2 registered in the previous ephemeris, in 1947.
It is followed by the 15 millimeters of Los Rodeos as the second lowest rainfall after the 41.3 of the previous record, from 1961.
This month began with higher than normal values due to the passage of the Oscar storm, but not because it implied large amounts of precipitation, but rather due to the low humidity that June initially has.
All this results in a hydrological year that for the moment is very dry, well below what it should have rained and a situation of water deficit similar to that of 2022 since Óscar has not had a significant impact, although the person responsible for the Aemet specified that the situation of drought in the Peninsula in principle has a minor effect in the Canary Islands.
Regarding insolation, the spring of 2023 is the one with the highest number of hours of sunshine since 1983, with 14 percent more insolation compared to the average for the reference period 1991-2020.
However, there have been no significant episodes of dense haze, the meteorologist continued, to specify that another noteworthy value is the average temperature of the water on the sea surface, clearly above the usual at 20.8 degrees, the maximum recorded since 1940.
In relation to the wind, it has not been a particularly windy spring except in La Palma, although the most intense gust recorded occurred on April 12 in San Sebastián de La Gomera with 102 kilometers per hour. EFE