CHILL SEEKERS
Sleigh to go as Ireland’s big freeze deepens..& snowstorm rocks Spain
MATTHIAS PETSCHKE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BRRRAVE crowds hit the snowy slopes yesterday as parts of Ireland turned into a winter wonderland.
The Wicklow Mountains resembled an Alpine retreat as sledgers young and old made the best of the big freeze, which plunged to below -9C.
Lakes also froze over in Co Monaghan and drivers faced treacherous road surfaces in the icy conditions.
And the cold snap is set to continue for several days with more chilly temperatures, rain and fog forecast.
It comes as the mercury plummeted to -9C on Friday night, covering the country in a coat of white ice.
The lowest temperature was recorded in Durrow, Co Laois, at -9.2C.
It’s the coldest recorded at the station since Storm Emma when it dropped to
-9.7C. And the weather is not looking any better in days to come either.
The forecast for today will see the day starting off with patchy fog which will be slow to clear.
It will be a little less cold than previous days, with maximums of 3C to 7C, highest in the west.
However, a change is coming as the weather becomes more unsettled with rain on Monday, Tuesday and early Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Spanish government issued a warning to people to stay indoors yesterday after at least three people died in the worst snowstorm in 50 years.
Storm Filomena brought Madrid and the surrounding region to a frozen standstill and left hundreds of motorists trapped in their cars. Meteorologists said snowfalls on such a scale had not seen in Madrid since 1971, with up to 50cm in parts of the region.
A man and a woman drowned near the Costa del Sol resort town of Fuengirola after their car was swept away by a swollen river in the early hours of Saturday.
And another man died in the village of
Zarzalejo in the Madrid region after becoming buried in the snow.
Five Spanish provinces – Valencia, Castellon, Tarragona, Teruel and Zaragoza – remained on red alert yesterday afternoon.
Meanwhile, it emerged on Friday that 2020 has tied with 2016 as the world’s warmest year on record.
Scientists said the latest data shows the drastic need to slash greenhouse gas emissions in a bid to avoid catastrophic climate change.
The Director for Space in the European Commission, Matthias Petschke, said: “The extraordinary climate events of 2020 and the data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service show us that we have no time to lose.”