After a few days of practically spring weather, the winter atmosphere returns to almost the entire country. Especially to the Balearic Islands and the northern half of the peninsula. As of this Wednesday, a cold front will enter that will leave precipitation and snowfall in the northern half of the peninsula. After the passage of the front, the irruption of an air mass of polar origin will take place, which will favor a progressive drop in temperatures and snow level.
“This Wednesday the temperatures will begin to drop, but on Thursday it will be widespread and, in the northern half of the peninsula, marked: the thermometers will reach values ??10 ºC lower than those of the previous day in the middle of the day,” he explains in a Twitter thread. the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET).
The frosts will spread from Thursday until Sunday, through large areas of the interior of the Peninsula. They will be more intense in mountainous environments and in areas where snow has previously been left on the ground.
Meteorologists speak of minimum temperatures below the normal average for the time. Colder than usual, according to AEMET records. The agency ensures that on Friday and Saturday values ??located in the 5% of the coldest registered for these dates in the period 1991-2020 will be reached.
This episode of cold and instability will begin on Wednesday, with the passage of a front that will leave precipitation from north to south, being more intense on the Cantabrian coast, where it may be locally strong and persistent, and without affecting the southern half of the peninsula. The snow level will initially be high, but it will gradually drop to 600-1,000 meters in the northwestern third, remaining above 1,400 meters in the rest.
According to the AEMET forecast, Thursday and Friday will be characterized by a cold and unstable environment in the middle of winter. The precipitations will spread throughout the northern half of the peninsula, although on Friday they will be restricted to the northern third. They will be more intense and persistent in the far northeast on Thursday, and in the far northwest on Friday.
These precipitations will be in the form of snow at low levels, above 400-600 meters in a general way during Thursday, with the greatest thickness in mountain areas, although it is likely that the accumulations will also be significant in plateau areas. For that day, the agency has called for caution, because “the accumulation of snow can be significant”, greater than ten centimeters in 24 hours, at low levels of the Cantabrian communities, especially Asturias and Cantabria.
Rain, snow and very cold for the end of the week. The temperatures will be low, with values ??below the usual values ??for the season, reaching the minimum on Thursday at the end of the day. On Friday there will be moderate frosts in large areas of the interior, more intense in mountain systems, where they can be strong.
As of Saturday there is a lot of uncertainty in the trajectory of the depression in height. It is not ruled out that the precipitations will be reactivated in the extreme northeast, in the eastern Cantabrian, in the Pyrenees and in the Balearic Islands, with the snow level rising slightly to 800-1200 meters, higher in the Balearic Islands. These rains could reach the Mediterranean coast, where there is a certain tendency to instability during the following days.
It is difficult to know how long this episode of cold and low temperatures will last, the AEMET points out in its forecast. Although initially it would last until Sunday, “there are scenarios that suggest that the intense cold will also continue for the following days.”
