Majorca woke to a dusting of snow today as the first cold snap of the winter gripped the island. The cold front hit the region on Sunday, and overnight the temperatures fell below freezing in some parts.
The Balearic branch of the Aemet meteorological agency reported today that these fell as low as -0.4ºC in Escorca. Its spokesperson, Miguel Gili, said that the temperatures plummeted to 0.6ºC in Bunyola and 2.8ºC in Campos: the average for this time of year is 9ºC.
Across the region, Gili explained that, because of the cold front, average temperatures are between 4ºC and 5ºC lower than usual for this time of year and that there were some three centimetres of snow on the Puig Major. Over 800 metres, the Tramuntana mountains enjoyed a dusting of snow over Sunday night.
Aemet also reported that temperatures in Palma reached a maximum of 13ºC and a minimum of 2ºC today, 12ºC and 8ºC in Felanitx/Portocolom, 13ºC and 3ºC in Llucmajor and 12ºC and 3ºC in Sa Pobla.
Conditions are forecast to continue to be unsettled tomorrow. Gili said that biggest concern are the gale force winds which yesterday led to some ferry crossings in the region to be cancelled and, while an improvement in the weather is expected from Wednesday, the region will remain on level two and three alert for strong winds and heavy seas, with waves of up to six metres until Friday.
But it is not just the Balearics. Much of Spain was today put on alert for snow, wind and freezing temperatures as a polar air front sweeps across the nation. Aemet has issued weather warnings in 20 provinces in nine of the seventeen of Spain’s regions, as temperatures in some places are set to drop to -10 degrees C.
The cold weather has hit northern Spain with temperatures plummeting in mountainous regions of Asturias, Cantabria and the Pyrenees. But, as the Bulletin reported last week, the long-term weather, the run-up to Christmas, is looking much more promising, with temperatures currently forecast to reach their high teens again. Although the return of the Indian summer we had been enjoying has been ruled out, it will be signficantly warmer than this week.