Rare Sea of Clouds Forms Over North Tenerife Ocean

An amazing sea of clouds appeared over northern Tenerife on Tuesday, November 4, surprising residents. While these cloud formations are common on the island, especially when you go up to Teide National Park, it's unusual to see them directly over the sea.

Meteo_Tenerife, an account on X (formerly Twitter), shared a picture of this. The stunning photo showed Teide in the background, with low clouds covering the area. Their post read: "The sea, which is a true sea, of clouds. Spectacular capture from northern Tenerife."

A "sea of clouds" usually forms because of trade winds. These winds push clouds against the northern mountain slopes of the island. From the top, it looks like a calm, white sea.

But this time, the clouds weren't by the mountains; they were right over the sea. Meteo_Tenerife suggested this was due to "advection fogs." These fogs create a similar 'sea of clouds' effect, but along the coast.

The weather website eltiempo.es explains that advection fogs happen when warm, moist air from the ocean moves over much colder water near the coast.

While this sight surprised northern residents on Tuesday, residents in Santa Cruz saw something similar last August. An advection fog covered that city in a white blanket from early morning.