Tabernas Desert - Climates

Climates

The Tabernas Desert is situated between the Sierra de los Filabres to the north and the Sierra de Alhamilla to the south-southeast, isolating it from the humid winds of the Mediterranean Sea, in an area with little rainfall known as Levante.

In the lowest areas of the Tabernas basin (about 400 meters above sea level), the average annual temperature is of about 17,9 °C ( (Soil–geomorphology relations in gypsiferous materials of the Tabernas Desert (Almerıa, SE Spain), page 4/30). Temperatures in winter rarely drop below freezing at night while during the summer, absolute maximum temperatures always surpass 40 °C (104 °F) in the shade. The annual average precipitation is slightly over 20 cm (see same source pages 1 & 4/30) with only 1/3 falling in the hot season (May to October). The average annual sunshine is about 3000 hours.

Thus the Tabernas climate, between 400 and about 800–900 meters, is a) at the edge of the temperate and subtropical climates (The 18 °C mean annual isotherm separates both climates), b) semi-arid of "Syrian" type (see Georges Viers, Éléments de climatologie, Paris, Nathan, 1990) which means that the dry season occurs during the hot season (= 6 hottest months of the year).

These characteristics are also aggravated by the foehn effect.

Above about 800–900 meters the precipitation increases, thus reducing the dry summer season, while the temperature drops. At these altitudes, the Tabernas basin climate is not any more semi-arid but either Mediterranean or, at the highest points, even cold temperate, experiencing several frozen winter months.