A Calima is a hot and often very oppressive dust and sand laden wind that covers the Canary Islands and Tenerife occasionally during the winter months but more often in the summer. The Calima blows from an area of high pressure usually over Northern Africa and the Sahara and is driven by South Easterly winds out into the Atlantic and over Tenerife.

Calima’s can last anything from a few hours up to over a week and during a Calima, the air in Tenerife turns a red/brownish shade due to the Saharan dust and sand. This phenomenon is often mistaken by visitors as haze or overcast weather however, a quick glance at any surface will show a fine film of sand, this is one of the after effects of the Calima, during a Calima in January 2002, the Santa Cruz International Airport had to be closed because visibility dropped below 50 meters.

The temperature during a Calima in Tenerife often increases due to the warm air being trapped by the heavy sand in the atmosphere and temperatures in the high 30’s

are often recorded. Local men often say that the only way to survive a Calima is to sit in a sealed room with a fan and a fridge full of Ice cold beer whilst the local women often say they have to go to the best air conditioned shopping mall’s!!

Often the Calima extends beyond Tenerife and the Canary Islands, infact, these winds have been know to travel as far as the Carribean at times and in July 2000, it was recorded that almost 8 million tons of dust from a Calima reached Puerto Rico.

Pictures courtesy of www.obs-nice.fr