25.06.2026 – Hot summer

Oh summer! How delighted we are that the warm weather months are finally upon us…although today’s weather did not feel entirely “summery”, our sightings couldn’t be more typical for the season. We spent the day with our summer dolphins, the Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis), our speckled summer visitors that never fail to charm clients with their interactive behaviour. 

While the wind does not make finding cetaceans easy out on the Atlantic, it does provide a slight relief ahead of what is predicted to come this summer. The predictions revolve around the El Niño, a phenomenon caused by warming water masses in the Pacific that lead to different weather phenomenons around the globe. This year, waters in the Pacific are almost 2 degrees warmer than usual, leading to a significantly strong version of this phenomenon, known as the Super El Niño. The resulting weather predictions include less hurricanes in the Atlantic but an increase in storm/hurricane activity in the Pacific. Drought and water shortages are expected in the northern hemisphere, and the effect of Europe and Atlantic islands like Madeira will include stronger heatwaves.

By contributing to drought and heatwaves, the El Niño also enhanced climate change and the warming of surface waters, leading to significant changes in marine life particularly when it comes to food availability and related distribution patterns. It’s hard to map out the consequences but what we can say for now is it will definitely be a hot summer!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins

13:00 Short-finned pilot whale

Steno

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins

13:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Short-finned pilot whale