The Latin word "Levare" refers to the eastern sector of the sky where the sun "rises" above the horizon in the morning. This is why the easternmost part of the Mediterranean is also known as the Orient, but nowadays it is more commonly referred to as the Levant.
At the same time, Levante - in the Strait of Gibraltar, in the far west of the Mediterranean, also Levanter - is a collective term for all winds in the Mediterranean that blow from an easterly direction.
This wind is therefore a vagabond and is not tied to any particular coast - like the bora, for example. Sometimes it blows here, sometimes there, depending on the weather. In this respect, it is similar to the Tramontana. Overall, the easterly wind is more common in central and southern waters than in the Mediterranean north.
However, the aversion to sedentariness is also the only thing it has in common with the Tramontana. While the Tramontana often comes with a clear, sunny atmosphere and a gusty wind, the Levante brings a hazy atmosphere, even fog in the Strait of Gibraltar. It also blows much more evenly than the gusty Tramontana.
The typical stable thermal stratification of the air - i.e. only a slight decrease in temperature with altitude, often even an increase in temperature with altitude (inversion) - makes for an unpleasant but welcome characteristic for surfers in east-west orientated straits: Here, the otherwise rather gentle Levanter often mutates into a strong wind or even a storm.
Typical weather map
However, as the Levante can blow in very different parts of the Mediterranean depending on the weather conditions, the corresponding general weather situation can also vary greatly.
Easterly winds often blow particularly consistently in the western Mediterranean in the summer months, in the Strait of Gibraltar, in the neighbouring Alborán Sea and the North African and Andalusian coastal waters. This Levante variant is caused by a stable air pressure gradient: There is permanently low air pressure over North Africa (heat low), while the pressure opposite on the Andalusian coast - and especially towards the Balearic Islands and Sardinia - is higher.
The Levante is also very reliable on the south-east and east Spanish beaches in summer. There, in calm, high-pressure weather conditions, it is nothing other than the onshore thermal breeze that blows during the day.
With a Levante at the spots in the central and northern Mediterranean, there is high air pressure in the area of southern France, the Alps and the northern Balkans, while the pressure in the southern Mediterranean is relatively low. This air pressure distribution creates a more or less continuous easterly air flow. This Levante weather situation is similar to the Bora weather situation.
In southern Spain and southern Italy, a Levante-like situation with winds from the east to south-east sometimes develops in the run-up to a sirocco. This is most likely to happen from autumn to spring, when a low pressure system approaches from the southwest - from the Moroccan-Algerian-Tunisian waters.
In summer, the eastern Mediterranean is governed by the northerly winds (Etesia, Meltemi), with the Levante barely managing to prevail. Levante-like weather conditions often occur in the winter months, with lively low-pressure activity along the North African coast.
Area of operation and peak season of the Levante
If a wind blows constantly and is associated with a typical weather pattern, it is often given a proper name. Accordingly, one of the Levanter's classic areas of activity is in the Mediterranean (from west to east):
- Strait of Gibraltar (Levanter) and North African coast (Levanter/Levante) - especially in the warmer season
- Coasts of southern Spain (as Levante in summer, as Leveche-Sirocco announcing weather conditions - especially from autumn to spring)
- Coasts of Eastern Spain (Levante in summer, before sirocco weather conditions in autumn to spring Solano or Marinada)
- Balearic Islands (Levante, on Mallorca before sirocco weather conditions in autumn to spring Xaloc)
- East coast of Corsica and Sardinia, Strait of Bonifacio (Levante, originally a Tramontana from the Italian west coast) - mainly autumn to spring
- Italian coasts of the Ionian Sea (Levante or Greco Levante (east wind from Greece); in sirocco weather conditions on the Sicilian east coast Maledetto Levante) - mainly autumn to spring.
Typical wind and weather conditions
Many variants can be found on the east coast as part of the thermally generated land-sea wind circulation that prevails there in calm weather conditions. This type is particularly widespread on the Spanish Mediterranean coast from Andalusia in the south to the Costa Brava in the north. Particularly on north-south orientated stretches of coast and in the warm season, the Levante blows as an onshore wind quite reliably from morning to evening, usually with strengths of two to four Beaufort. The weather is friendly, but with the characteristic Mediterranean haze. The summer heat is moderate compared to the hot hinterland.
From autumn to spring, a Levante sometimes blows for several days on the Spanish and southern Italian east coasts - in the run-up to low pressure approaching from the west or south-west. This Levante also blows at night and tends to increase day by day. Towards the end, it can have the character of a strong wind and is then called a levantada on the Andalusian coasts. When the sirocco weather situation begins, the Levante turns to the south-east and is then called Leveche on the southern Spanish coasts, Solano on the eastern Spanish coasts and Marinada in Catalonia (on Mallorca it is called Xaloc).
The weather is always very hazy, initially with sunshine. Later, fields of cloud move across the sky, and towards the end there may also be some thundery rain. It is particularly rainy in Levante weather conditions in the congestion of the eastern Sicilian mountains (often in front of Mount Etna), the locals also call the wind the cursed Levante (maledetto Levante).
Amplification factors
If straits extend in a west-easterly direction (i.e. in the direction of the Levante) and are lined by mountains close to the coast, a strong funnel effect transforms the easterly breeze into a strong wind with gale force potential. This happens in the straits of the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco and the Strait of Bonifacio - between the islands of Corsica and Sardinia.
In the Gibraltar Strait, another effect is added to the normal jet effect: The cold Atlantic water flowing in there cools the lowest layer of air, but warmer air is above it. The boundary layer between cold/bottom and warm/top is called an inversion. It acts like a lid that shields the strong Levanter in the strait from the (weaker) winds in the higher atmosphere - and therefore makes this jet even stronger. It is no coincidence that Tarifa, the Mecca of the southern European strong wind surfing scene, is located right in this jet.
While a strong Levante in the Strait between Corsica and Sardinia rarely lasts longer than two to three days, the Tarifa-Levanter strong wind can blow for three to five days. In summer, five days can sometimes turn into weeks if you include the weaker Levante phases.
The weather is usually fine, but extremely hazy. In the west of the Alborán Sea as far as the Strait of Gibraltar, visibility repeatedly drops below one kilometre in summer, which by definition means fog. Tarifa, however - and this is another plus point of the spot in addition to the guaranteed wind - is located outside of these fog-prone coastal areas.
Disruptive factors
Generally speaking, as the easterly wind is based on higher air pressure in the north and lower air pressure in the south of the spot, a reduction in this pressure gradient ends the Levanter phase.
If the easterly wind is a thermal sea breeze, as is the case on many of Spain's Mediterranean coasts, the end of this calm high pressure situation - caused by a low pressure disturbance, for example - also leads to the end of the Levante. The easterly winds, which are associated with low pressure approaching from the south-west, will initially increase day by day. With the passage of the low or a low pressure front, the Levante phase ends rather abruptly and the easterly winds are replaced by winds from the south or west. Then it's over with the strong wind surfing.
Levante - the Tarifa wind
In the western Mediterranean, in the Strait of Gibraltar, the Levante is often very strong. The wind distribution clearly shows the acceleration - and why Tarifa has become a hot spot for windsurfers. There are also Levante winds on the Spanish east coast and on the Italian east and south coasts in the weather conditions shown.
All parts of the wind special:
- The west wind
- The east wind on the Baltic Sea
- Ora and Vento on Lake Garda
- The foehn in the Alps
- The Meltemi in Greece
- The bora in Croatia
- The sirocco in the central Mediterranean
- The mistral in the south of France
- The Tramontana in the northern Mediterranean
- The Levante in southern Spain
- The trade wind zone
- The roots of the trade winds
- Core trade wind - In the centre of the trade wind
- Passat run-off zone - The end of the Passat
- Interview: Climate researcher Dr Michael Sachweh - "Chasing storms is my passion"
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