MADRID – The new year already started quite cold in many parts of Spain. Those low temperatures will not end for the time being, says weather site Eltiempo.es. Moreover, the cold will be accompanied by a major depression. This will result in heavy and perhaps historical snowfall.
The snow is also expected to fall in unusual places such as inland areas of the provinces of southern provinces Almería and Murcia. From Epiphany, on January 6, Eltiempo.es predicts possible ‘historical snowfall’. The arctic cold continues throughout the week. From wednesday it interacts with an Atlantic Depression. This will result in heavy and exceptional snow showers, particularly in the center and interior of the Iberian Peninsula.
On the day of Epiphany, it is cloudy throughout the southern half of Spain. Between the Canary Islands and the mainland there is a storm due to a front. This reaches Andalusia in the course of the day. The Gulf of Cádiz can expect very heavy rain.
In the night of 6 to 7 January, the cold air mass collides with the depression full of humid air, resulting in heavy snow showers, especially in the central and interior of Spain. The first snow falls on Wednesday afternoon in the east of Andalusia at heights from about 1000 meters.
Starting Thursday
During the first half of Thursday, the precipitation will move from the south to the center and east of the peninsula and also reach the Balearic Islands. It snows in many places from a height of 400 to 600 meters. It is snowing in almost all of Castilla-La Mancha. The east of Andalusia, the southeast of the Madrid region, the south of Aragón and the interior of the regions of Murcia and Valencia can also count on snow showers.
Especially in higher areas the chance of a lot of snow is high. Eltiempo speaks of a layer of snow from 20 centimeters. On Friday the snow showers will move a bit more to the north and it will also snow in Castilla y León, the interior of Catalonia, La Rioja and the south of Navarra.
Forecasts for the weekend are still uncertain as significant changes could still occur in the meantime. The Canary Islands are also affected by intense rainfall accompanied by storms.
First ‘ola de frío’ of 2021
With this weather prediction, there is a good chance that the first cold wave of this decade will be a fact. A cold wave is referred to when the minimum temperatures are below the 5 percent percentile of the coldest days of the year. In other words: When the values correspond to 5 percent of the coldest early mornings recorded in the months of January and February over a 30-year period. In addition, this must be done on 10 percent of the territory for three consecutive days.
Weather warnings
Weather institute Aemet already warns against extreme cold. On Wednesday, orange warnings apply for the Cantabrian mountains in León, the Pyrenees in Huesca and Lleida and the ‘Sistema Central’ in Segovia. The zones of Guadix and Baza in the provinces of Granada and Jaén receive a yellow warning for snow.
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