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Skier in Gran Via (Madrid)
Photo: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / Getty Images
The population should stay at home because of the "Filomena" snowstorm and follow the instructions of the emergency services, demanded Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Saturday via the short message service Twitter.
The President of the Regional Council of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, announced that all schools and universities there will be closed on Monday and Tuesday.
Road, rail and air connections are interrupted.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska announced that there had been three deaths.
He said this was a "relatively" small number given the "extremely difficult" weather conditions.
Among the dead was a man who was found buried under snow in Zarzalejo, northwest of Madrid.
The Spanish weather service Aemet declared the center of the country a red alert.
The regions of Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha (center) and Valencia (east) were hardest hit by the snowfalls.
1,500 motorists who got stuck in the snow were freed with the help of snow clearing vehicles.
The interior minister warned that freezing temperatures of minus ten degrees and below could be expected in the coming days and that this could lead to black ice.
The weather services forecast that the cold spell, which is unusual for the country, will continue until Thursday.
Dog sledding in Madrid
There was more snow in Madrid than it had been in half a century.
Some residents used the location for skiing, for example on the famous Puerta del Sol square.
Even a dog sled could be seen there.
Mayor José Luis Martinez-Almeida urged the residents of the capital not to go outside in view of the "extreme situation".
The mayor added that the emergency services were on duty to clear access to the hospitals.
However, this will be difficult as long as fresh snow is falling.
Madrid's Barajas International Airport was closed on Friday evening and should remain closed until further notice.
Initially, 30 flights were canceled and about as many were diverted to other airports.
The Atletico Madrid vs Bilbao football match was postponed because the Basque team could not attend.
An unofficial national temperature record of -34.1 degrees was measured on Wednesday at an altitude of more than 2000 meters at the private weather station in Clot de la Llança in the central Spanish Pyrenees.
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hda / AFP