Heavy storm, cold and snow: In Spain the weather switches to winter this week.
Warnings up to the red level apply practically throughout the country, from the middle of the week it could even snow on the beach.
Madrid - Now winter is coming to Spain too.
This week it will be stormy, cold, and the snow line is falling drastically, the state weather agency Aemet has issued a special warning.
The weather map for the next few days is colored yellow, orange or even red for almost the entire mainland and the Balearic Islands - depending on the warning level.
The Spanish ski resorts will be happy, and it's supposed to snow even down to the beaches in the north of the country.
The cold snap is felt across the country, and the government recently presented a cold protection plan with tips for low temperatures.
The harbinger of the onset of winter is on Monday, January 16th, a sometimes violent storm in large parts of the country.
On the Atlantic coast in the north of the Iberian peninsula, the orange warning level applies today,
Weather in Spain: Storm at the beginning of the week - then snow and cold
But also in central Spain and up to the Mediterranean coast from the Costa Brava to the Costa Blanca down to the Costa del Sol and also on the Balearic Islands, where spring-like temperatures have prevailed all winter long, the state weather agency Aemet has warning levels yellow to orange (Costa del Sol) imposed due to the storm.
In the hinterland of the Costa Blanca, the strong wind is currently causing difficulties for the fire brigade, which is extinguishing a forest fire near Aigües de Busot.
A low pressure area is to blame for the onset of winter in Spain, which also has snow and cold in its luggage over the course of the week.
16/01 12:01 #AEMET #FMA nivel naranja por viento y/o nevadas y/o costeros para manana en 25 provinces .
Imagen en vigor a las 12:01 (tabla actualizada haciendo CLIC EN LA IMAGEN), or visite https://t.co/3ce1BF7jDj https://t.co/aNmBpbWjzC
— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) January 16, 2023
While the Spanish weather agency Aemet christened the low pressure area Fien, the French colleagues decided on the name Gerard.
However, both refer to one and the same front.
The storm with which Fien is announced comes in the north of Spain at speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour, so extreme caution is required, especially near the coast because of the waves up to 10 meters high.
On the Mediterranean coasts, the wind still reaches up to 70 kilometers per hour.
The cold wind also ensures that the perceived temperature is significantly lower.
Fien will bring snow this Monday, January 16, initially only in the Pyrenees and in the north of Castile and León, reports costanachrichten.com.
Winter weather in Spain: Snow in Andalusia too
Tomorrow, Tuesday, January 17, the weather will remain stormy in large parts of Spain, and the yellow to orange warning level will continue to apply in the north of the country, in central Spain and along the entire east coast, including the Balearic Islands.
And there will be plenty of snow, it is supposed to snow in practically the entire northern half of the Iberian Peninsula: In the Pyrenees in the province of Huesca, for example, Aemet expects 40 centimeters of snow within 24 hours.
In Cantabria, the snow line even drops to sea level: we could therefore see images of snowy beaches.
Where it's not cold enough for snow, it's supposed to rain from Tuesday, even on the Mediterranean coast a few drops of the long-awaited rain could finally fall.
The Pyrenees town of Benasque broke the Spanish cold record on Tuesday evening with minus 9 degrees.
On Wednesday, January 18th, Fien will bring even more snow to Spain: it's supposed to snow at night near Granada, ie in the Sierra Nevada ski area, as well as around Madrid and also in the Pyrenees.
In the eastern hinterland of Andalusia, the weather agency Aemet has issued a yellow warning due to snowfall, the snow line drops to 700 to 800 meters and provides 4 to 10 centimeters of fresh snow in the mountains of Granada, Jaén, in the Alpujarra and the Sierra de Cazorla.
In addition, the low pressure area will still cause a storm on Wednesday, albeit not as violently and not in such large parts of the country.
Up to 1 meter of fresh snow: onset of winter in Spain
The prospects for Thursday and Friday are still imprecise, but snow, cold and storms could still be the weather protagonists in Spain until Saturday.
In the course of the week, Aemet expects up to one meter of snow in the north of the country, and up to 40 centimeters in central Spain.
The Mediterranean coast was the most spared from the sudden onset of winter - apart from the storm at the beginning of the week.
But even here the drop in temperature is noticeable, albeit only cautiously: Temperatures on the Costa Blanca drop from over 20 degrees in the previous week to "only" a maximum of 13 to 15 degrees on Wednesday.
In the hinterland, for example near Villena, Ibi or even in Jijona, the thermometer shows only 9 to 11 degrees during the day, at night the temperatures are around freezing point.
