In general, Tenerife has a spring-like and mild climate throughout the year with an average temperature of about 23ºC, hence it is internationally known as the island of eternal spring, being one of the places in Europe with more sunshine hours per year.
However, Tenerife is characterized by the commonly called microclimates, which consist of abrupt temperature changes depending on the altitude and orientation, giving the island a changing climate depending on the area where you are located. These climatic differences, of course, lead to marked differences in vegetation, and consequently, to an unexpected variety of landscapes in such a small space. This is mainly due to the intense topography of the island combined with the great height it reaches in some points.
Below are the different microclimates we find on the island.
1. North Slope: side where the Trade Winds hit.
a) Low area: Mediterranean climate, up to 200 meters altitude: influence of sea breezes, very little thermal oscillation; from 200 to 600 meters: the influence of the sea is reduced and a greater temperature oscillation is observed.
b) Mid area: Oceanic climate. Between 600 and 1500 meters altitude. Cold and humid climate.
c) High area: between 1500 and 2700 meters. It is a dry air area, constituted by the upper component of the Trade Winds, except during polar air invasions, in winter. Very similar to Continental Climate; hot summers and days, cold winters and nights, although within a mild climate and not excessively extreme. From 2700 meters altitude: Subalpine Climate, with low temperatures and snowfalls in winter.
2. South Slope: where the Trade Winds do not hit.
a) Low area: coastal and dry. Greater aridity than at the same level on the north side, and greater temperature variation.
b) Mid area: receives occasional and intense precipitations from the southern storms. Similar to the Mediterranean in some aspects.
c) High area: same characteristics as the north side.
Of all the Canary Islands, Tenerife is the island that presents all the microclimates and therefore presents a greater variety of vegetation and landscape contrasts.
A very clear example can be the Anaga area, in Tenerife; in this region, we go from 0 to 1000 meters altitude in 1 km, and it is oriented to the north, so we find 3 different climates within a distance of 1 km.