The arctic cold storm that entered the north of the peninsula on Saturday has gained intensity this Sunday. The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has activated the red notice in several areas of Aragon, Asturias, Castilla y León, Catalonia and Navarra due to snowfall, strong wind, rain and rough seas. Five other autonomous communities are under an orange warning due to wind and coastal phenomena: Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Galicia, the Basque Country and the Valencian Community.
In red level due to snowfall it affects the Pyrenees of Huesca and Navarre, the Arán Valley in Lleida and the Cantabrian mountain range in Asturias, León and Palencia. In the Aragonese Pyrenees, the accumulation of snow is close to 40 centimeters in places like Benasque, and is complicating traffic on the roads of the province, with the closure of the Portalet pass due to the risk of avalanches on the French side, the cutting of two sections of road (the regional A-136 from kilometer 21 to 27 in Formigal, and the A-136a, in Sallent de Gállego del kilometer 1 to 5) and the mandatory use of chains or winter tires on up to fifteen roads in the Alto Aragonese province. Furthermore, in the Pyrenees of Huesca and in the Aran Valley, temperatures below 10 degrees below zero have been recorded in recent hours.
The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has activated the necessary means to deal with the expected snowfall. The Ministry has 866 snow plows and a storage capacity of 157,256 tons of flux material (salt), as reported in a press release on Saturday.
The wind will blow very strongly in Tarragona, Lleida, Girona, Castellón, Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel, with gusts that could exceed 100 kilometers/hour, and even 120 in high areas. In Astún La Raca (Huesca) 127.8 kilometers per hour have already been reached.
On the other hand, the entire northern coast of the Balearic Islands and Tarragona is under an orange warning due to very bad seas due to the strong northeast wind (force 7 or 8 in some cases) that can bring waves of up to 8 meters. Furthermore, as Aemet explains in its special notice, the mass of cold air will cause “a notable thermal drop – of six to ten degrees – in large areas” of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands.
Tomorrow, Monday, the winter episode will continue, with slightly lower snow levels, between 600 and 900 meters, except in the northwest where it will tend to rise slightly to 1,000-1,200 meters. The greatest thicknesses are expected in points of the Cantabrian mountain range, where they may again exceed 30 centimeters, while in the Pyrenees the snowfall will gradually lose intensity.
It is not ruled out that, although very weakly, snowfall may extend to high areas of the southern half of the peninsula, and it is expected that the storm, both sea and wind, will decrease. Starting on Tuesday, December 10, it is likely that a colder but drier air mass will penetrate, driven by northeasterly winds, so that snowfall will become less and less abundant, ending this winter episode.
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