Lanzarote Weather

You’ve Lanzarote weather  booked to come and enjoy our sunshine, so it makes sense that you check the forecasts daily to see what you can expect during your two weeks here. But the problem is the forecasts, particularly from big international websites, are often complete rubbish!

So let’s have a look at why:

We’re small!

For a start, Lanzarote is a tiny land mass in a huge ocean. Predicting what’s going to happen here is quite complex, and because the island is so small, forecasting has to use the “general area” around it. You may have noticed sometimes that there is a circle of cloud off shore, around the island. It never reaches us because the hot air being reflected up from the rock burns it off before it arrives. But most weather forecasting systems will see the cloud in the vicinity, and report a cloudy day.

Pesky Averages

Secondly, Lanzarote Weather forecasting relies on averages. That means they will take the average expected temperature across the island. It might be 24 degrees with a cool northerly breeze at the height of Mirador del Rio, and that will bring the average temperature forecast down to 28 across the island. So you see “28 degrees” and think “That’s not very hot!” But when you get to the beach at sea level, you’ll find its actually 32!

There’s Often Cloud Hovering Above Famara Cliffs

The same applies to the cloud forecast. You might be disappointed to see a forecast that shows “Cloudy intervals.” Again, there might be cloud over Risco de Famara as there often is, so the forecasters tell you it will be cloudy. But the reality is the rest of the island is bathed in sunshine from dawn to dusk!

Back in the summer, there was a great example of this in action. The forecast said: Sunny with cloudy intervals this morning and high cloud expected this afternoon in Lanzarote. North / north east wind 15-20km/h & 31 degrees.

I drove from Haria to Playa Honda in the morning, and saw a few clouds, but by mid morning they had gone. When I left Playa Honda at midday, the temperature was 34 degrees. It peaked at 36 degrees when I was in Costa Teguise at 2PM, and the promised “high cloud” never appeared. It was basically a hot, fabulous cloudless day. Perfect for spending on the beach or around the pool. But you could have read the forecast and thought differently. So don’t stress about the weather forecasts, we really do have relentlessly good weather here, and even in the unlikely event that the weather isn’t great where you are on the island on a particular day, you can often drive 20KM to another coast and have wall to wall sunshine.