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WEATHER

Early snow sees November opening for Spain’s ski resorts

The first of Spain's ski resorts opened last week after a polar blast brought unexpectedly early snow.

Published: 18 November 2019 14:56 CET
Early snow sees November opening for Spain's ski resorts
Resorts across Spain's mountain ranges have already opened for the season. Photo: Formigal Aramon Resort

La Masella in Spain's eastern Pyrenean region became the first ski station to open in all of Spain, inaugurating the season last Wednesday with two lifts open.

Snow coverage of about 25cms was topped up by artificial snow machines at the resort in Girona region of Catalonia at the start of a season that is expected to last until Easter week in April next year.

The resorts of Astún (Huesca) and Punto de Nieve Santa Inés (Soria) also opened last weekend.

Formigal, a resort in the Aragon region of the Pyrenees, near the border with France, opened on Friday.

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With 25 pistes open offering 31 km of runs and in glorious sunshine, it was a great start to the season.

Nearby Panticosa opens on Saturday.

And so too does Candanchú (Huesca), which will open on November 23rd.

Slopes much further south on the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Granada are due to open this coming weekend.

The popular resort of Baqueira Beret, also in the Pyrenees will be opening on Saturday and is offering a discount to early skiers.

Skiers in Asturias will have to wait a little longer with the resorts of Pajares y Fuentes de Invierno not opening until Friday November 29.

The same goes for Espot Esquí and Port Ainé, in Huesca province of Aragon; Vallter 2000 and Vall de Núria, in Girona, Catalonia; Leitariegos and San Isidro, in the Picos de Europa in León; and the Sierra de Béjar-La Covatilla in Salamanca province.

A few resorts in Spain have yet to set the opening date.

Snow has been falling heavily in Madrid’s two resorts Puerto de Navacerrada and Valdesquí so it won’t be long before they are up and running. And the same goes for La Pinilla, just an hour north of Madrid over the border in Segovia province.

Slopes in AltoCampo (Cantabria), Javalambre-Valdelinares (Teruel), La Pinilla (Segovia), Lunada (Burgos), Manzaneda, (Ourense) Port del Comte (Lleida), Tavascá (Lleida), and Valdezcaray (La Rioja) have all yet to set an opening date.

READ ALSO: Eight amazing ski resorts in Spain

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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. 

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