"Keith (Southend)G" wrote in message
...
We were fotunate enough to spend a day on La Palma last August while on the P&O Oceana. The
wind was a 'cool' Ne'ly and in the port, which is situated on the eastern side of the island,
it was cloudy, cool with spost of rain. We went on a trip to the crater which took us up to
the mountain ridge, where we were in fig and drizzle, then through a mile long tunnel to the
other side, which faced west, to our complete amazment the sky was completely blue, like a
mediterranean summer and not even a glimps of any cloud around the mountain/volcano ridge. As
we headed back in the afternoon through the tunnel, we were back in cloud and drizzle. The
people on the boat who adn't been on the trip didn't beleive us.

These contrasting setups are quite common on the Canary Islands because of the prevailing winds
and the local orography.

The NE 'trade' winds bring moisture and cloud from the Atlantic, but the SW side of the islands
are generally sheltered by the central mountains, leading very often to overcast conditions on
one half of an island and clear skies on the other.