Brrrrr!
Source: my Instagram
Spain freezes in MINUS 25C weather as the country sees lowest temperatures for two decades
- Spain is struggling to return to normality three days after 30-hour-long record snowfall that was hardened by record-low temperatures
- Temperatures on Monday evening plummeted, reaching as low as minus 25.4 degrees Celcius in Bello, Spain
- Big freeze has complicated efforts to clear countless roads and streets blocked by ice, snow and fallen trees
Spain has shivered through its coldest night in at least two decades amid a record-breaking cold snap that blanketed Madrid in snow, closed the city’s main airport, and buried roads in snow and ice.
Temperatures plummeted to as low as 25.4 degrees Celsius in the town of Bello, located in a mountainous region to the east of Madrid known as the Spanish Siberia, the country's weather agency AEMT reported.
In Madrid, the temperatures fell to minus 10.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest level in half a century, with the capital's Barajas airport registering minus 13.2 degrees Celsius.
'Since 1920, there have only been 15 days which have been colder,' AEMET Madrid tweeted.
Much of Spain is struggling to return to normality three days after a 30-hour-long record snowfall that was then hardened by record-low temperatures.
The big freeze has now complicated efforts to clear countless roads blocked by snow, but authorities resumed their work today to clear the streets of ice and fallen trees despite the brutal cold.
Ruben del Campo, spokesman for AEMET, said on Tuesday that the previous night had been the coldest since at least 2001.
But del Campo said the figures are provisional and it could be the coldest night 'in many more decades', reports Spain's El Pais newspaper.
Eleven of Spain's 51 provinces and autonomous regions were in the highest level of alert.
After experiencing the heaviest snowfall in 50 years, Madrid resumes efforts to get back to normal on Tuesday, despite shortages of snow ploughs and salt.
Schools remained closed in the capital and much of central Spain, with emergency and military crews still working to reopen roads, remove fallen trees, re-establish power lines, as well as ensuring the distribution of food and coronavirus vaccine.
Authorities are urging people to stay at home unless they really need to go out, to avoid accidents that could further strain emergency rooms.
A military hospital in the Madrid had already seen a worrying uptick in trauma cases, defence minister Margarita Robles said late on Monday.
At least three people died when Storm Filomena swept through the country at the weekend, and on Tuesday, Barcelona officials confirmed another two people, both homeless, had been found dead, with all signs suggesting they died of hypothermia.
A spokesman for the Gregorio Maranon hospital, one of Madrid's largest, said 37 per cent of patients admitted to the emergency room in the past 24 hours had suffered trauma injuries, compared with an average of 12 per cent to 15 per cent.
The town of Bello, in the north-eastern Teruel province, registered a temperature of minus 25.4C (minus 13.7F), while Molina de Aragon, in the central Guadalajara province, was only a tenth of a degree less cold. Some temperatures were the lowest since 1982.
'An icy morning with historically low temperatures, clearly far below the seasonal norm across the whole of the country,' Spain's AEMET weather agency tweeted.
In Madrid, the city hall estimated that at least 150,000 of Madrid's 800,000 trees have fallen due to the weight of snow.
The capital's airport, the busiest in the country, was expected to get back to full operation on Tuesday, and railway operations were steadily increasing in frequency.
Madrid's main retail market also re-opened Tuesday for the first time since Friday, leading to a frantic activity of trucks and vans coming in and out to stock up the aisles of supermarkets that had seen shortages of fresh produce.
With the main roads cleared, the first buses were back in circulation early on Tuesday, with 28 lines expected to be operational throughout the day, 17 of which would prioritise routes serving hospitals, Madrid's EMT transport service said.
Until now, only the city's metro service had been operating, running a 24-hour service to enable key workers get around.
The suburban Cercanias trains were also back up and running, as were the high-speed intercity AVEs, although those serving medium-distance routes were still out of action, Spain's public television reported.
Storm Filomena left up to 20 inches of snow across large swaths of Spain starting on Friday morning.
The Madrid regional government said Tuesday it was still waiting for a new batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines against the coronavirus that had been due to arrive the day before by plane but had to be diverted to a northern Spanish airport.
Vaccination, meanwhile, continued in nursing homes and among health personnel with existing doses.
Isabel Diaz Ayuso who heads up the regional government called for the government to declare an emergency in Madrid.
'Declaring it a disaster zone is essential for the recovery of many areas that have been badly affected,' she wrote on Twitter of a measure which would release more resources for the region.
Although the frost and snow will remain widespread in central Spain for the rest of the week, the temperatures will start to ease in the coming days, AEMET said.
Click on the link (in main title) to see photos of the snowy scenes.
How many of these cold weather words do you know?
Comments
Filomena was the worst. I have never seen anything like this in Madrid in my life. I only remember it in my Village, when I was child, then the landscape was snowed under and my father went out alone from my home. I seemed he was a hero. Snow stocked up over the roof of my house and it could snap some wood beam. It was very dangerous because we have, in addition, a lot of animals. My house was chilly and the temperature out was below freezing. Sometimes it was an uptick and snow lasted many days because, then, there were snow ploughs.
Madrid was a romantic place for seven days, but I think it could be very damaging for the majority of people, especially, key workers and whose got around. We saw nurses running and across the field, students without go out from home and empty streets. It was freezing. I couldn´t go to the market. Snow cover reached the knee of people who can´t walk. You have to drive with snow chains through streets. We can´t go away not only because of the confinement, but because of the snowfall bigger that I remember.
See you.
Filomena was certainly one for the history books.
... To me, he was a hero. Snow piled up on the roof of my house and it could snap some wood beams. It was very dangerous because we had, in addition, a lot of animals. My house was chilly and the temperature outside was below freezing. Sometimes it was an uptick (not sure what you mean here) and snow lasted many days, so then, there were snow ploughs.
Madrid was a romantic place for seven days, but I think it could be very damaging for the majority of people, especially, key workers and those who had to move around. We saw nurses having to walk long distances to get to work, students not able to leave home and empty streets. It was freezing. I couldn´t go to the market. The snow was knee-high which meant that people had difficulties getting out and about<7b>. You to drive with snow chains aaround the streets. We couldn't leave home not only because of the confinement, because of snowfall bigger than I ever remember.