Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

WEATHER

IN PICS: Skiers, snowboarders and a dogsled take to the streets of Madrid

As forecasters in Spain warned there was more to come on Saturday and Sunday, people in the capital (and beyond) enjoyed the snowiest weekend in 50 years.

Published: 9 January 2021 12:08 CET
Updated: 10 January 2021 12:08 CET
IN PICS: Skiers, snowboarders and a dogsled take to the streets of Madrid
A man skis in Cibeles square during heavy snowfall in Madrid on January Saturday 9th. Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP
Another 20 centimetres (nearly eight inches) was forecast to fall Saturday in Madrid and central Spain's lower plains, with up to 50 centimetres at higher altitudes.  
 
The AEMET weather agency described the situation as “exceptional and most likely historic”.
   
The snow converted Madrid's famous Puerta del Sol square into a winter sports venue, as skiers — and even a man on a sled drawn by five dogs — took to the normally busy thoroughfare.
 

The Local's editor Fiona Govan filmed people skiing through the square on Friday evening. 
 

 
She also filmed snowboarders taking advantage of the slopes around the university district of Malasaña. 
 

Here's a snowboarder by Cibeles square. 
 

 
Here's a snowball fight taking place on Madrid's Gran Via: 

 
 
On Saturday morning afternoon, people in Madrid returned to the city centre. Here's someone out for an early morning ski. 
 
Photo: Benjamin Cremel/AFP
 
Here are people gathered outside the Royal Palace. 
 

Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP
 
Here's someone skiing on Saturday afternoon in Puerto del Sol. 
 
Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP
 
Even the city's nuns came out to enjoy the snow. 
 

 
We're not quite sure what's happening here. 

 
People went tobogganing on the slopes in parks around the city centre. 
Apart from Madrid, the regions of Aragon, Valencia, Castilla La Mancha and Catalonia were the worst-hit by the snowstorms.
   
The historic city of Toledo asked the army for help clearing the streets, as did Albacete in the southeast, public television reported.
 
Here's someone snowboarding down one of Toledo's hillier streets. 
 

 
Forecasters said the heavy snow would continue until Sunday, before Storm Filomena begins moving northeast, although temperatures would remain exceptionally low.
   
Before the snowfall began Thursday morning, temperatures had already plummeted to an unofficial record low of -34.1 degrees Celsius (-29.38 Fahrenheit) at a ski station in the central Pyrenees on Wednesday.
   
Filomena has also brought intense rain and high winds to the Canary Islands as well as Spain's southern coast.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

WEATHER

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Summer is finally here! Or least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C by Thursday, according to forecasts.

Published: 30 April 2024 08:42 CEST
Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Warm air from southern Europe will combine with a high pressure zone which will bring clear skies and sunshine, with summery weather coming towards the end of the week, Norway’s national weather forecaster Yr has reported. 

“Thursday and Friday especially will be nice,” Ingrid Villa, a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told the public broadcaster NRK. “Then we will probably get temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius in some places.” 

Patches of 20C warmth are expected both in western Norway around Bergen and in Western Norway around Oslo, with the area around Tromsø expected to have slightly cooler weather, although Villa said that “it will absolutely be something like summer there too”. 

The warm sunny weather is, however, expected to pass northern Norway by, with grey overcast skies expected for much of this week. 

But if you think summer has come to Norway to stay, you risk disappointment as much cooler temperatures are expected next week.  

“There’s nothing unusual in getting an early taste of summer in April and the start of May, and then we can quickly go back to cooler more spring-like weather,” Villa said. 

SHOW COMMENTS