With a summer maximum of 29° centigrade, and a winter low of around 17° centigrade, where else can you find such bearable temperatures?
Even the sea only wavers a degree or two above and below the 20° centigrade mark all year around. That climate is not necessarily the case for the whole island, as clearly the higher you go, and also the more northerly you travel there is a greater chance of rain, and there has on rare occasions been snow on the mountain tops.
However, if you stick to the southerly coast and go west from Funchal, as far as Calheta or maybe a little beyond, the weather is pretty unbeatable. The island is like that, it’s full of microclimates and even the types of trees and plants vary visibly across the island.
Rain is a pretty rare event along this stretch, with the odd few long and heavy showers during the year, but over the last 4 years, rain worthy of mention has probably fallen less than once a month on average, mostly in the winter.
Now, should you go to one of the many weather forecasting websites to see if this article carries any fact, you may well see predictions of cloud and rain, and that forecast will be based on Atlantic weather systems, which may or may not stray over Madeira Islands in part or in full? In reality the weather phenomenon is generated by Madeira’s own mountainous terrain, forcing hot air to cool rapidly and precipitate over the higher ground. For those of you who have been to Tenerife Island, you will see a very similar weather variation between the north and the south.
What is amazing however, is despite this very dry climate along the coast, rain in the mountains is plentiful, and due to the volcanic nature of the rock and a system of over 2,000 kilometers of very old surface level water channels – Madeira Levadas – the island stays wonderfully green all year around and is famed for its wild and natural flower displays -Madeira Flowers.
The weather of Madeira Islands is something of a well guarded secret, as is the Madeiran Archipelago in many respects. The average age of the visiting tourist is 55, and there is a good reason for that, and that is because older people feel the cold more and know where to go to avoid it. With around 1.5 million foreign visitors each year, the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo save these people millions of euros in heating bills back home, and allow them the freedom to spend most of the winter outdoors. Winter is a peak season for Madeira, especially so over the New Year period.
Whilst for certain many people will have differing views on the best European climates, those who don’t try a winter or summer break on Madeira at sometime in their lives, they have not only missed out a practical guarantee of good weather, they have also missed out on one of the most beautiful travel destinations in the world.