Valverde, Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Valverde
Municipality

Coat of arms
Coordinates: 27°48′0″N 17°55′0″W / 27.80000°N 17.91667°W / 27.80000; -17.91667Coordinates: 27°48′0″N 17°55′0″W / 27.80000°N 17.91667°W / 27.80000; -17.91667
Country  Spain
Autonomous community  Canary Islands
Province  Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Island  El Hierro
Area[1]
 • Total 103.65 km2 (40.02 sq mi)
Elevation[1] 571 m (1,873 ft)
Population (2013)[2]
 • Total 5,048
 • Density 49/km2 (130/sq mi)
Postal code E-38900

Valverde (Spanish meaning "green valley") is a municipality in the Canary Islands in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It is located on the north-east part of El Hierro (the rest of the island being the municipalities of Frontera and El Pinar). The town of the same name serves as the island's official capital. It is both the smallest Canarian capital and the only one not located by the sea. The town's airport and seaport are both several kilometres away on the island's east coast.

Pastureland and smallholdings dominate the central plateau area with pine and cloud forest at progressively higher elevations. The coastal areas and lower slopes are arid and mainly left to unimproved scrub and sparse grassland. Volcanism is prominent, with several cinder cones and areas of lava flow to be seen.

Historical population

Year Population
2001 4,227
2002 4,643
2003 4,727
2013 5,048
Church of Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, Valverde
Charco Azul, Valverde
The Giant Lizard of El Hierro, endemic of this island

Climate

The city has a tropical desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) with mild temperatures year round.[3] Winters are mild and warm with a January mean of 18.8 °C (65.8 °F). Temperatures rarely go below 10 °C (50.0 °F) with the record low being 8.0 °C (46.4 °F) on January 16, 1981.[4] Frosts are non-existent.[5] Most of the precipitation falls during the winter months. Summers are warm with the warmest month, September averaging 24.1 °C (75.4 °F), indicating a seasonal lag. Precipitation is scarce during this time, averaging 0 millimetres (0 in) to 2 millimetres (0 in). Owing to its proximity to the sea, extreme temperatures are rare with the highest temperature recorded being 34.2 °C (93.6 °F) on October 16, 1983.[4]

It should be noted in particular, that Valverde is at an altitude of 571 metres above sea level, while El Hierro airport is just 32 metres above sea level. The difference in altitude can have a significant effect on the weather.

Climate data for Hierro Airport
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 28.5
(83.3)		 29.4
(84.9)		 32.6
(90.7)		 33.2
(91.8)		 31.4
(88.5)		 32.0
(89.6)		 32.4
(90.3)		 33.8
(92.8)		 33.3
(91.9)		 34.2
(93.6)		 32.4
(90.3)		 28.3
(82.9)		 34.2
(93.6)
Average high °C (°F) 20.9
(69.6)		 20.8
(69.4)		 21.4
(70.5)		 21.6
(70.9)		 22.6
(72.7)		 24.0
(75.2)		 25.0
(77)		 26.1
(79)		 26.5
(79.7)		 25.6
(78.1)		 23.7
(74.7)		 22.2
(72)		 23.4
(74.1)
Daily mean °C (°F) 18.8
(65.8)		 18.6
(65.5)		 19.0
(66.2)		 19.3
(66.7)		 20.3
(68.5)		 21.7
(71.1)		 22.8
(73)		 23.7
(74.7)		 24.1
(75.4)		 23.3
(73.9)		 21.6
(70.9)		 20.0
(68)		 21.1
(70)
Average low °C (°F) 16.6
(61.9)		 16.4
(61.5)		 16.7
(62.1)		 17.0
(62.6)		 17.9
(64.2)		 19.3
(66.7)		 20.5
(68.9)		 21.3
(70.3)		 21.7
(71.1)		 20.9
(69.6)		 19.5
(67.1)		 17.8
(64)		 18.8
(65.8)
Record low °C (°F) 8.0
(46.4)		 9.0
(48.2)		 9.2
(48.6)		 10.0
(50)		 10.0
(50)		 10.0
(50)		 14.0
(57.2)		 14.2
(57.6)		 15.2
(59.4)		 11.0
(51.8)		 12.0
(53.6)		 9.6
(49.3)		 8.0
(46.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 28
(1.1)		 29
(1.14)		 20
(0.79)		 14
(0.55)		 2
(0.08)		 1
(0.04)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 2
(0.08)		 12
(0.47)		 26
(1.02)		 33
(1.3)		 170
(6.69)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 3 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 4 19
Average relative humidity (%) 74 76 74 74 74 75 77 78 77 76 74 74 75
Mean monthly sunshine hours 140 158 184 197 233 229 210 234 210 189 157 143 2,339
Source #1: Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (normals 1971-2010) [5]
Source #2: Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (extremes only 1973-present) [4]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Valverde (El Hierro).
  1. 1 2 "SUPERFICIE, PERÍMETRO Y ALTITUD DE LOS MUNICIPIOS DE CANARIAS." (in Spanish). Instituto Canario de Estadística (ISTAC).
  2. ↑ "Población en Canarias. El Hierro. 1-1-2013." (in Spanish). Instituto Canario de Estadística (ISTAC).
  3. ↑ Kottek, M.; J. Grieser; C. Beck; B. Rudolf; F. Rubel (2006). "World Map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated" (PDF). Meteorol. Z. 15 (3): 259–263. doi:10.1127/0941-2948/2006/0130. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 "Valores extremos. Hierro Aeropuerto" (in Spanish). Agencia Estatal de Meteorología. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Valores climatológicos normales. Hierro Aeropuerto" (in Spanish). Agencia Estatal de Meteorología. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
 Atlantic Ocean
La Frontera Atlantic Ocean
   Valverde  
El Pinar
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.