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IN IMAGES: Polar front returns to Spain with lots of snow and frost

The Local (news@thelocal.com)
The Local ([email protected])
IN IMAGES: Polar front returns to Spain with lots of snow and frost
Spain's weather agency expects "snowfall at low altitudes in the north and centre of the peninsula, especially on Thursday". Photo: Jotaka/Unsplash

Spring in Spain will have to wait as the national weather agency has warned that from Thursday another cold front will send temperatures plummeting to as low as -10C with plenty of snow and frost forecast.

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In certain parts of Spain, temperatures had started to rise again recently. Spring, it seemed, was well on the way and the colder winter months behind us.

However, this week Spain's state meteorological agency AEMET has warned of possible snow, frost, heavy rain, strong winds, and even double digit temperature drops.

What seems clear is that from Thursday 23rd the weather across the country will take a turn for the worse, and that things are expected to be much more severe in the north of the country, where heavy snowfall and temperature plummets of up to -10 degrees centigrade are expected.

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The forecast

According to AEMET's official Twitter account: the forecast is "Snowfall at low altitudes in the north and centre of the peninsula, especially on Thursday" and a "sharp drop in temperatures, with locally intense frosts that will affect large inland areas.

In another tweet, the weather agency added that "Temperatures will start to drop this Wednesday, but on Thursday 23rd, when the drop will be widespread and, in the northern half of the peninsula, substantial, thermometers will hit values 10C lower than the day before during the middle of the day."

Temperatures are forecast to begin rising slightly from Friday.

Frost and heavy rain

Frosts are forecast to spread throughout inland Spain, lasting until Sunday 26th. These will be most severe in mountainous areas and in places that have recently experienced snowfall.

The weekend, which is the second weekend of Carnaval in many parts of Spain, is also set to be a wet one, with the worst affected areas forecast to be Asturias, Cantabria, Aragon, Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands.

Cáceres, Badajoz, Huelva, Guadalajara, Ciudad Real and Teruel are also on alert for rain on Saturday, as are Galicia, Castilla y León and the Basque Country though the forecast is less severe.

From Sunday it is anticipated that the rain will dissipate in much of the country and the weather will improve. 

 

Snow

AEMET has also warned of possible heavy snowfall.

On Thursday 23rd "the probability of snowfall is very high in large areas of the north and centre of the country," the weather agency says, with  snowfall of up to 5 centimetres in 24 hours in low areas (below 500 metres) forecast in the following areas: Cantabria, Navarra, and the Huesca and Lleida areas around the Pyrenees (where snowfall of up to 20 centimetres is anticipated, 80cm in the Pyrenees).

However, an orange snow alert has also been activated in Asturias, and general snow warnings cover most of the interior of northern Spain, including Ávila, Segovia, Burgos, León, Soria and Vitoria-Gasteiz.

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