Winter weather is back. A cold, humid and unstable maritime polar mass will cause a sharp drop in temperatures starting Thursday, with possible snowfall above 700 meters in the northern half of the country, as explained in a special notice by the State Agency for Meteorology (Aemet).
The arrival of this cold front will allow thermometers to reach more normal values for these dates, with rain, strong winds and sea storms. Gone will be the spring values that have been recorded in many areas, but especially in the Mediterranean area, well above the 20 degree maximum.
Starting this Wednesday afternoon, the southwest wind will begin to intensify, prior to the arrival of the front, along the northwestern tip of the peninsula, with very strong gusts in exposed coastal and mountain areas.
For today, weak rainfall is also expected in the west of Galicia in the second half of the day, and may occur weakly and occasionally in other parts of the extreme north. Regarding temperatures, they increase on the Cantabrian coasts, the Pyrenees, the Valencian Community and the north of the Balearic Islands. On the other hand, they decrease in the rest of the northern third of the peninsula and areas of the center and extreme southeast.
According to the Aemet forecast, during Thursday, rainfall will spread from northwest to southeast with the passage of the front. They will be more intense and persistent in western Galicia, and unlikely in the extreme southeast of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands. The snow level will start around 1800-2000 meters, eventually descending to 800-1000 m in the northwest third.
For that day, the entry of the cold mass is expected, which will cause temperatures to drop, except on the Mediterranean slope, with minimum temperatures that will be reached at the end of the day in the northern half.
On Friday, temperatures will drop again in a widespread and pronounced manner, with frost in the mountains of the northern half and the southeastern mountain ranges. The wind will continue to blow from the west, strong in the Cantabrian Sea and Alboran and with very strong gusts on the coasts and mountains of the north and east of the peninsula.
The snow level will be 700-900 m in the northern half and 1000-1200 m in the rest, so snowfall is expected in the mountain systems of the northern half and eastern mountains of Andalusia, with higher accumulations in the extreme northwest and without ruling them out at lower points in the north of the northern plateau.
That day, rainfall is also expected in the east of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands, while the showers will extend from the northwest to the rest of the Peninsula, weaker and more dispersed the further south and east, and more intense and persistent in Galicia and the Cantabrian area.