Costa del Sol Towns
Sierra Nevada Georaphy & Climate
In recent years the farming and ranching has promoted
tourism in Granada.
The ski resort has gained great popularity and prestige. The high number of
hours of sunshine and good temperatures, even in winter, have attracted fans of
winter sports.
The southern slopes of Sierra Nevada,
along with the valley and the Sierra Guadalfeo of Contraviesa form the region
of the Alpujarras, an area with scattered settlements and abundant features and
property, is now protected as historical heritage (historic site of the
Alpujarra) and is a major tourist development.
The traditional activity of the people living
around the Sierra Nevada has historically been
agriculture and livestock. The abundance of water, especially in the western
part of the massif, has facilities for traditional agriculture, which has even
been established in areas above 2,000 m in the south face (thanks to the kind
of weather), though the mechanization was totally impossible because of the
complicated topography. In the summer herders have historically used the
“Borreguiles” as a grazing area.
The scale determines the altitudinal increase of heat as it
rises, causing major thermal oscillations: Under Trevelez (1500 m) the average
annual temperature varies between 16° and 12° C from 1500 m; the Port Ragua
(2000 m), between 8° and 12º C; between 4º and 8º C in the youth hostel (2000
m) in Pradollano (2500 m); and from 3000 m is below 0º C.
The north side is cooler than the south side because of its
reduced exposure to sunlight and northern winds. The temperature is too low on
the winter nights, with an average of --10º C.
Climate
According to the list of national parks of the Ministry of
Environment of Spain, Sierra Nevada is the most representative of Mediterranean
ecosystems of high mountains. Therefore, the most characteristic features of
the climate of the Sierra Nevada can be
identified: their relative dryness (due to the west-east wind direction and
prevailing winds from the west) and the intense sunlight of the Mediterranean
area.
The conditions that determine the diverse climate in
the Sierra Nevada are important altitudinal
range, latitude, topography, and complex terrain.
Its position and presence in the southern zone of the
Mediterranean influence causes dryness in summer (May-October). Rainfall is
minimal, while in winter the rainfall is almost exclusively in the form of snow
from a certain altitude (approximately 2000 m).
The winds help to determine a maximum fall on the south side
(southwest winds) and spring up on the northern slope, most influential in the North Atlantic (with winds of north and northwest).
This highlights the unique microclimate that is created in
each of the valleys, rivers, and ravines. In the aforementioned heat it plays
an important role.
