I have just come back to (never thought I would say it) sunny old Ireland following my 5th visit to Carvoiero this year. It rained almost without a break for the entire week which would have been hard to take if I had brought the family with me. I had planned to take my family down for Christmas but I am seriously re-considering now. Can anyone tell me is this level of poor weather normal for such long periods of time. It has remained cloudy and rained on and off for almost 10 days now and I see it is not great today either. I have visited during Nov, Feb, April but I have never witnessed such prolonged poor weather. A penny for your thoughts.

Last new year we were on the beach at Albufeira until the early hours ( a little light drizzle ) and in shirt sleeves a few days later.
IN early Dec the cicadas were still noisy.
In Jan I was searching for short sleeve golf shirts as it was v warm and sunny.
I agree our friends living in the Algarve have commented on this period of rain , but it is the same throughout Europe.
Forcast for weekend though is sunny in the Algarve.

IT has to rain sometime otherwise everything would soon dry up.

Just looked at weather cam stats, -6degrees lowest temp in last 24 hrs.

Do not think so !!!!!

I did comment on the fact the the constant rain did not seem to bring growth to the countryside. In Ireland after such rain everything jumps out of the ground and it becomes very green. I guess that all the minerals in the soil have been absorbed by the sun over time. I do appreciate what you say and I have been ridiculously lucky over the years (Nov last year I went for a week and genuinely did not see one cloud for the entire week !!!) but it can be very long on the kids if it rains constantly. The village is obviously not geared up for such situations and it can be very difficult to entertain them. They are 2, 10, 14 so I will have to give it some thought but I absolutely adore the place so likey to book anyway.
Regards

We are coming out to Carvoeiro in just over 3 weeks - i realise that at this time of year the weather is changeable and you cannot expect wall to wall sunshine everyday - but that would be great if it happened!!

Over there for Christmas a few years ago and the weather was not too bad - some decent sunny days! Do not expect the extreme high's that we experienced this August/September - mid 60's-low 70's would be nice though.

Roll on 18/11/06!

Julie

The Algarve is usually a very sunny and warm place. It rains occasionally, but rain for such a long period, as now, is not the norm.

The rain does bring growth to the countryside and everywhere is much greener after a good rainfall. I guess you have to live here to see the difference.

When we were there in March, it was much greener on account of recent rainfall.

We will be out again next Wednesday, for three weeks at Rocha Brava, and we are hoping that the bad weather in Carvoeiro recently, will be the last for some time. As Misty says, it doesn't normally rain for long, even at this time of year.

The weather surely cannot be as bad as it has been in Cheshire this afternoon - cold with rain, rain and more rain - dreadful!

Hurry up November 18th and back to Rocha Brava to start my birthday celebrations.


Julie.

Faro has had 2 inches of rain in the last 24hrs

I know what you mean Julie, its been a horrible day in Wilmslow.
Have a lovely birthday in CVO



Tricky

Tricky - not much better today in Cheshire - more rain and now wind!!
Hope to have a great birthday over in Carvoeiro - have not made my mind up yet as to which restaurant to celebrate my birthday at!! but wherever i am sure we will have a brilliant time.

Julie

When we first came to live here nearly 18 years ago, we were told winters are traditionally 6 wet ones followed by 6 dry ones
Over the years it does seem to follow this vague sort of pattern Winter of 1987/88 (Carvoeiro flooded) 89 /90 and 1995/6 all very wet believe the last one mentioned it actually rained 86 days running.
Of course the 6 dry ones are the bonus, 2004/5 we only saw rain a couple of times all winter but of course we had frost instead.

Of course we all love the sun, but without the winter rain, we would be a desert and who wants to live or holiday with sun but no luxury of water on tap 24 hours a day all summer. (remember the panic in the summer of 2005- will the water last, what will happen to our tourist season if there are water cuts.) The weather is something we have to live with good or bad.

Looking on webcam I can see blue skies and shadows, so the sun is back I guess?
We have a dry,still day here but very overcast and gloomy compared to yesterday which was sunny but blustery..
I hope for those going on hols to CVO that it at least stays dry for you.

Anyone know what happened on Tuesday night in Carvoeiro - I am being told my villa got hit by a mini-tornado - we appear to have lost 90% of our trees and a large number of roof tiles etc.

I am just surprised that no-one has mentioned it!

Flipping heck Graham, I am also surprised no one mentioned it. Where's your place, we are on ADM. Hopefully the insurance will cover it.