For anyone new to sailing in Mallorca, here’s a quick overview of what to expect with the winds this summer:
The dominant wind is the Embat (sea breeze), which typically builds from the south or southwest from about 11am, peaks around 2-3pm at 12-18 knots, and dies off by sunset. It’s your friend for afternoon sailing along the south coast.
Occasionally you’ll get the Tramuntana from the north — this can be stronger (20-30+ knots) and makes the north coast uncomfortable. It usually blows for 2-3 days then dies.
The Xaloc (sirocco) from the southeast brings warm, humid air and can bring haze. Usually light but can occasionally gust.
Biggest watch-out in summer is afternoon thunderstorms — they can pop up quickly and bring violent gusts. Always check the AEMET forecast and keep an eye on the cumulus build-up over the mountains.
Happy to answer any specific weather questions for routes people are planning.
Excellent summary Carlos. I’d add that the Aemet app (Agencia Estatal de Meteorología) is essential — much more accurate for local conditions than generic weather apps. The marine forecast for “Baleares” is what you want. I also use PredictWind for longer passage planning — the GRIB files are excellent for seeing how systems will develop.
This is incredibly helpful, thanks Carlos! We’re planning to do quite a bit of sailing around the south coast this month. So we should plan for morning departures and use the sea breeze for the return trip in the afternoon? Is that the usual pattern?
Great advice. One thing I always tell my charter clients — if you see big cumulonimbus clouds building over the Serra de Tramuntana in the afternoon, get your sails down and prepare for squalls. They can come through fast and furious, especially in July and August. I’ve seen 40-knot gusts from seemingly nowhere.
After forty years sailing these waters I can tell you August is the most predictable month if you understand the pattern. On a typical summer day with high pressure sitting over us, you get flat calm in the morning — glassy sea, not a breath of wind. Then around midday the Embat starts building from the southwest on the Palma side. By 14:00-15:00 you can have 12-18 knots of beautiful thermal breeze, perfect for a beam reach towards Cabrera or down to Cala Pi.
The thing to watch for is when the synoptic gradient aligns with the thermal. If there’s already a light southwesterly from the weather pattern, the Embat adds to it and you can suddenly have 25 knots by mid-afternoon — catches people out every year, especially charter boats. I always check the pressure gradient on Windy before heading out.
The other pattern to know about is the overnight land breeze. From about 22:00 to 06:00 you get a light offshore flow, usually 5-8 knots from the northwest on the south coast. Not enough to sail properly but it makes overnight anchoring at places like Portals Vells very comfortable — the boat sits nicely and keeps the mosquitoes away.
Carlos, your breakdown of the Embat cycle is spot on. Coming from Sardinia where we have the Maestrale dominating everything, the Mallorcan sea breeze pattern took some getting used to but I actually find it more predictable now.
One thing I have noticed that might help @tom_lisa and others planning routes — the Embat tends to fill in earlier and stronger on the south coast around the Bahía de Palma than it does up in the north near Alcúdia where I am based. Some afternoons I will be sitting in Alcúdia bay with barely 8 knots while friends down in Palma are reporting a solid 15. The Serra de Tramuntana seems to block or redirect the flow.
I have also been caught out twice this summer by the evening thunderstorms Katrin mentioned. Both times they appeared as a dark line over the mountains around 5pm and within 30 minutes the wind went from 12 knots southwest to 25 knots northwest with heavy rain. The barometric pressure drop was dramatic — my boat barometer fell 4mb in an hour. Now I check it religiously every afternoon if there is any cumulus building over the mountains.
For weather apps, I second James on PredictWind. The ECMWF model is much better than GFS for this area. I also like Windy — the visual interface makes it very easy to spot approaching weather systems.
Just a quick update on this — the embat has been unusually late developing the last few days up here in Pollença. Normally by mid-August you can set your watch by it, 1pm onwards from the southwest, but this week it has been closer to 3pm and weaker than usual. I suspect the persistent high pressure sitting over the western Med is suppressing the thermal cycle a bit.
Anyone further south noticed the same or is it a north coast thing?
James, I have noticed the same thing this week — the embat has been really lazy. I went out Tuesday morning expecting the usual midday fill-in and ended up motoring back from Portals Vells because by 3pm there was still barely 5 knots. Is this just a weird spell or does it happen some years?
Sophie, it happens. When we get a really stable high pressure system sitting right on top of us with very little pressure gradient, the thermal engine struggles to get going. The land-sea temperature difference is what drives the embat and if there is a layer of haze or high cloud dampening the solar heating, the breeze arrives late and weak.
This week we have had Saharan dust in the upper atmosphere — you might have noticed the milky sky and the orange sunsets. That dust layer acts like a filter and reduces the heating that generates the thermal. Give it a few days and when the air clears the embat will come back with its usual clockwork reliability. I have seen this pattern many times over the years, usually once or twice each August.
James, Sophie — yes, we have seen exactly the same on the charter fleet. Three handovers last week where the crews came back saying they had motored more than they sailed, and my own delivery down from Alcúdia on Thursday had nothing usable until nearly 16:00.
What I have started telling clients this month is to treat the embat as an afternoon bonus rather than the plan. If the day depends on it filling in at 13:00 they end up disappointed and running the engine anyway. Better to plan a shorter hop, get anchored somewhere sheltered before lunch and let the breeze arrive when it wants to.
Had the most bizarre wind day on Saturday. Left Club de Mar at half seven with a lovely light northwesterly, did a nice reach out towards Illetes, then by about ten the wind just died completely. Sat there drifting for forty-five minutes feeling a bit silly before the embat finally filled in from the south. Went from zero to a proper 15 knots in about ten minutes — nearly caught me out with the jib still set up for light air.
Is that normal for late August or was Saturday just a weird one?
Sophie, I had almost the same experience on Sunday! I was out with the school and our instructor kept saying “just wait, just wait” while we sat there doing nothing. I was starting to wonder if sailing is actually just… sitting on a boat staring at a limp sail. Then suddenly everything filled in and we were heeling and I was holding on for dear life.
Is there a way to tell when the embat is about to arrive? Or do you just have to be patient? My instructor called it the Flaute — sorry, I mean the calm period — and said it is completely normal but it felt very strange coming from someone used to everything running on a schedule.