Spain trembles: 36 centimeters of fresh snow near Madrid

Created: 04/20/2022, 22:33

By: Christoph Gschossmann

Unusual picture from Spain: A snow-covered car.

In the holiday country there was a late onset of winter.

© Rafael Bastante / picture alliance

Sun and Spain belong together.

But not at the moment: The holiday destination is under a thick blanket of snow.

Madrid - It's so green when Spain's flowers bloom, they say.

At the moment, however, the plants in the sunny country have to be patient, or they were quickly covered with snow: Spain is shivering with cold in the middle of spring.

A late onset of winter covered large parts of the Iberian country with a thick blanket of snow on Wednesday.

Snow line drops to 700 meters - warning of avalanches and landslides

In the 1000 to 1900 meter high town of Navacerrada in the Madrid region about 50 kilometers northwest of the Spanish capital, for example, there was 36 centimeters of fresh snow, as reported by the newspaper

and other media, citing the responsible authorities.

There hadn't been such a heavy snowfall in April in the community with around 3,000 inhabitants for 20 years.

It was only 700 meters in some regions on Wednesday.

Numerous roads had to be closed.

Authorities reported problems on 26 major highways.

The Aemet weather service not only issued an alarm for Madrid, but also for nine other of the country's 17 so-called autonomous communities, including Andalusia, Valencia and Catalonia.

There are warnings of snow and rain, avalanches and landslides, strong winds, extreme cold and high waves.

The alarm is still valid in a weakened form on Thursday and Friday.

Snow in Spain: visit to the beach in Mallorca is cancelled

Many Spaniards and visitors were surprised and annoyed about the unusual weather.

Locals and tourists, for example in Mallorca, had to cancel the hoped-for visit to the beach until further notice.

On the Mediterranean island, where it can often reach 25 and sometimes up to 30 degrees in the second half of April, the mercury column should only move between 9 and 15 degrees on Thursday with a lot of rain.

Many children saw it differently, as did some adults who were happy about the late winter: Alfonso Tomás posted a video of a snow-covered landscape in the town of La Raya in the northern Spanish region of Asturias on Twitter and wrote: "Winter is back!".