Live forecast for Las Canteras Beach (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas). Water temperature, wave height, wind, beach index 1-10 and best time to swim. Coordinates 28.1390, -15.4360.
Las Canteras is Las Palmas de Gran Canaria's urban beach. Its natural reef bar, La Barra, shields it from Atlantic swells, turning the central stretch into a year-round natural pool perfect for snorkelling (20-22 °C).
Orientation: north, approximate length 3100 m, sand type: golden sand. Holds a current Blue Flag award. Services: a 3 km promenade, a beach library, beach bars, showers, toilets and surf and snorkelling schools. Access: municipal buses 1, 2, 12, 17 and 41. Santa Catalina underground parking.
The WhatAWeather beach index combines six meteorological variables into a 0-10 score: air temperature (best above 22 °C), sea surface temperature from the Open-Meteo Marine model (best above 20 °C), wind speed (best below 20 km/h), significant wave height (best below 0.8 m), cloud cover (best below 30 %) and accumulated rainfall (best below 0.5 mm). A value of 8-10 means perfect, 6-7 good, 4-5 acceptable and below 4 we advise against swimming.
For the official microbiological status of Spanish bathing waters consult the NAYADE system run by the Spanish Ministry of Health. WhatAWeather displays an informational jellyfish warning when sea temperature exceeds 23 °C and the wind blows from the east (levante), a situation statistically correlated with sightings in the Mediterranean and the Strait of Gibraltar. This is an orientation indicator and does not replace official Red Cross or city council bulletins.
The sea is at its warmest in September, averaging 23.8 °C, and at its coldest in February, at 20.2 °C. On land the month with the highest daily maxima is August, which averages 26.3 °C.
The sea stays above 22 °C for 6 months of the year (June, July, August, September, October and November), a comfortable range for long swims without a wetsuit. The gap between air and sea temperature is the figure that misleads most: in August the air reaches 26.3 °C against 23.5 °C in the water.
In July and August the mean wave height is around 1.6 m, a shorebreak present almost daily, more for a board than for an inflatable. In winter the mean climbs to 1.6 m, with the annual peak in March at 1.9 m. The prevailing summer wind comes from the north-northwest, and the windiest month is July, when daily maximum gusts average 21 km/h.
July averages 12.2 hours of effective sunshine a day and 2.6 rain days across the month. The driest month of the year is August, with 2.5 rain days, and the wettest March, with 9.2; over the year as a whole it rains on about 79 days.
| Month | Max. air | Min. air | Sea | Wave | Max. gust | Rain days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19.9 | 14.9 | 20.9 | 1.60 | 19 | 8.2 |
| February | 20.0 | 14.8 | 20.2 | 1.70 | 20 | 7.6 |
| March | 20.1 | 15.1 | 20.2 | 1.90 | 20 | 9.2 |
| April | 21.2 | 16.2 | 20.8 | 1.70 | 19 | 7.3 |
| May | 22.1 | 17.3 | 21.3 | 1.50 | 20 | 6.3 |
| June | 23.5 | 18.9 | 22.6 | 1.40 | 20 | 5.3 |
| July | 25.2 | 20.5 | 23.1 | 1.60 | 21 | 2.6 |
| August | 26.3 | 21.5 | 23.5 | 1.60 | 19 | 2.5 |
| September | 25.5 | 20.9 | 23.8 | 1.40 | 17 | 5.4 |
| October | 25.2 | 20.0 | 23.8 | 1.50 | 16 | 8.8 |
| November | 23.0 | 18.1 | 22.9 | 1.50 | 16 | 8.7 |
| December | 21.2 | 16.1 | 21.8 | 1.60 | 17 | 7.2 |
These are climatological means, not a forecast: they describe what has happened on average over the past decade, and any single day can depart a long way from them. The sea column holds the mean of the daily maximum sea-surface temperature, and the wave column the mean of the day's highest significant wave height. The beach index above, by contrast, is computed from today's forecast, combining air and sea temperature, waves, wind, cloud and rain — which is why it can contradict the table on any given day.
