Does Gilbraltar affect the weather in its climatological/meteorological neighbourhood?

Question

When I was in Gilbraltar a few years ago, several locals of both Spain and Gibraltar commented on the fact that the peninsula has a weather system distinct from the areas around it, and that the peninsula had an effect on the weather patterns of the surrounding areas (i.e. Spain & north-west Africa).

(licensed under the "licencia de Creative Commons (“attribution”)", source: http://www.consumer.es/web/es/medio_ambiente/fotografias/2006/07/14/153891.php)

(licensed under the Creative Commons non-commercial attribution, no derivatives source: http://www.viajeros.com/fotos/gibraltar-puerta-de-europa/78590)

From the shape and size of Gibraltar the assertion by the locals seems plausible. Is there a meteorological phenomenon surrounding this mountain that affects the weather of Spain or North-west Africa?

Does this big 'ol rock, cast as a Pillar of Hercules, change the weather around it? It's a big rock, no doubt. But is it that big?

Answer 1

Only a partial answer, that will hopefully be helpful to someone else:

Workshop on “Unresolved issues in Mediterranean Sea Level” Palma de Mallorca, 30th May – 1st June 2011

Session 3

Mass changes in the nearby Atlantic or winds around Gibraltar can induce sea level changes in the whole basin.

This is not peer-reviewed, and it is about ocean currents, not atmospheric conditions, which I would have though would be closely related but, it says:

Recent efforts have been devoted to couple ocean and atmospheric models. However, we feel that there is still a lack of clear conclusions about the improvements lead by coupled models in front of forced models.

There is a strong wind weather pattern around Gibraltar called Viento de Levante, which was researched in 1952, but I can't see the actual paper :-(