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Chapter - 1 The Summer Island
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Minorcans describe six different
winds, suggesting a certain preoccupation with the subject. A north wind,
the tramontana, can reach gale force, and is commonest in winter, coming
across the Alps from Russia, It can be icily cold, and often brings rain,
Next in frequency is the llebeig (south-west) which is mild. The other
three most important are the llevante from the east, the mistral from the
north-west (both formerly feared by mariners), and the xaloc (sirocco)
from Syria, which is soft and languid.
Minorcan seasons
Minorcan seasons start with the
briefest spring in March and April, and day temperatures between 12.2°C
and 14.3°C. The early visitor will find the landscape unexpectedly
green, the air clear and stimulating, Friesian cattle graze in fields yellow
with the Bermuda buttercup. Sheep and young lambs abound, and gorse decks
the downs. There are many of the English early summer flowers: narcissi,
orchids, clematis, gladioli and lupins - even a rare wild peony.
A long dry summer follows, lasting
from May until the end of October. July and August are the hottest months,
when the landscape becomes parched and brown. Harvest comes in May and
June.
October and November bring a brief
autumn, This is delightful walking weather with temperatures still around
18.4°C.
The farmer is now ploughing and
sowing his land. The purple heath is in bloom.
Winter lasts from December till
February, with average day temperatures between 11.7°C and 1O.3°C.
This is the rainy season and consequently the season of growth. The landscape
becomes green again.
The climate does not appear to have
changed much over the last two hundred years. Dr George Cleghorn, a young
Edinburgh physician who went to Minorcain 1743 as a naval surgeon to the
British garrison, has left these detailed meteorological readings from
1743 to 1749:
The air is more pure and
clear than in Britain, being seldom darkened by thick fogs. The summers
are dry, clear, calm and excessively hot; the autumns moist, warm and unequal;
at one time perfectly serene, at another cloudy and tempestuous.
During the winter, storms though
sometimes violent, the weather returns to its usual serenity. The spring
is always variable, but bears a stronger resemblance to the winter than
the summer season.
In the compass of a year, the mercury
seldom rises above 80°F, nor falls below the 48th degree. As autumn
draws near, whirlwinds and thunder are frequent. In the nights lightning
and meteors. . . Waterspouts are often seen, and break upon the shore.
No meteors have been seen in recent
years, but occasional waterspouts have been observed. To daunt the timid
traveller further, a rare snowstorm lasted for four days in 1788, and there
has been a brief fall about every ten years since. One that occurred on
the morning of 4 December 1973, was preceded by an icy tramontana, and
lasted half an hour. The press reported snow- balling by children in Mahon.
Next: Chapter 2 - Minorca
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