Gigantic sandstorm in the Canary Islands - vacationers are stuck

Dust, dust nothing but dust: An extreme sandstorm from the Sahara hit the Canary Islands. Air traffic had to be stopped in the meantime. Photos show the force of nature.

• A sandstorm raged on the Canary Islands.
• Dense swaths of dust enveloped Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
• A special weather situation was responsible for the spectacle.

Update from February 24, 11:36 am : Another day with the weather phenomenon " Calima " is on the Canary Island before the Spanish weather authority Aemet warns . Fine white Sahara dust hovers in the air and further limits the visibility on Gran Canaria , Lanzarote and Fuerteventura to less than 1,500 meters. Due to strong winds, the alarm level is still yellow.

"We have not seen anything like this in 40 years," said Canary Islands President Ángel Víctor Torres on Spanish television, reports the dpa news agency. Classes were canceled on Monday for all students. The planned carnival celebrations in Gran Canaria were canceled.

The airports of the islands have meanwhile resumed operation, but there are still impairments, said the airport operator Aena on Twitter. Passengers were asked to contact their airlines for more information.

Satellite images show how violent winds drive the fine sand from the west coast of Africa over the islands in the Atlantic. At the weekend, gusts of wind were measured at wind speeds of more than 150 kilometers per hour.

Imágenes de satélite de la tormenta de arena que están sufriendo las Islas #Canarias • pic.twitter.com/xtfNS5iCbW vía @apuntoratge #VideoCiencia #calima

Gigantic sandstorm in the Canary Islands - vacationers are stuck

First report from February 24, 2019

Madrid - Fine desert sand hung in the air in the Canary Islands. The cause of the sandstorms is the notorious Calima . A weather situation with east wind blowing the desert sand from the Sahara to the Canaries.

The Sahara sandstorm paralyzed air traffic in the Canary Islands at the weekend. After the first flight cancellations on Saturday in Gran Canaria and Tenerife, all eight airports in the Spanish archipelago were closed on Sunday due to poor visibility. There was fine desert sand from the Sahara in the air, which was blown by strong winds onto the Canaries off the coast of Morocco.

Sandstorm paralyzes Gran Canaria Airport

Already on Saturday, Gran Canaria's airport was temporarily unable to land or take off. No planes could take off at the two airports in Tenerife either. A total of around 280 flights were canceled or rerouted, said a spokeswoman for the Spanish airport operator Aena.

Air traffic was resumed on Sunday morning. Because the weather conditions then deteriorated massively, all eight airports in the Canary Islands were closed. "The visibility is very poor," said the Aena spokeswoman. "The planes that were to land on the islands were diverted to mainland Spain." At first, she was unable to say how many flights were affected.

Sand storm in the Canaries - vacationers are stuck

According to the airport operator, some flights were also diverted to the Cape Verde Islands, Morocco, Mauritania and Portugal. Spain's Transport Minister José Luis Abalos thanked for the "solidarity" of these countries. Local experts could not "remember such bad weather for air traffic in the Canary Islands," he wrote in the online service Twitter.

The Spanish weather service registered storm gusts of up to 160 kilometers per hour on the Canary Islands, which lie off the Moroccan coast in the Atlantic, on Sunday night. The Norwegian shipping company Fred. Olsen & Co. initially ceased ferry services between the islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote and between San Sebastián and Valle Gran Rey on the island of La Gomera on Sunday.

The storm also affected fire fighting in Gran Canaria. A fire broke out near the village of Tasarte in the southwest of the island on Saturday. Due to the strong wind, no fire engines could take off on Sunday. According to the regional government of the Canaries, the fire has already destroyed around 300 hectares of land, around 500 people had to be brought to safety.

A violent storm in Italy brought water masses and a gigantic sandstorm.

AFP / ml