THE SNOW SHOW
JIJONA Local Police reported that long traffic jams formed on mountain roads as thousands of motorists headed for the peaks of Alicante province to see the historic snowfall.
Interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido, who visited Alicante last week, said it had been the heaviest snowfall for a century in the province. Alicante University’s climatology lab noted that more than two metres of snow had fallen around the peak of the province’s highest mountain, Aitana, at 1,558 metres.
Most of the snow came over a five-day period from January 18, with any precipitation which has hit the area since falling as snow in high mountain areas.
The enormous quantities on Aitana and nearby peaks are likely to remain in situ for several weeks, as temperatures remain low at high altitudes, with more snow forecast yesterday (Thursday) afternoon and today for areas above 1,400 metres.
Alicante University’s director of climatology, Jorge Olcina, explained the cold snap as a winter ‘gota fría’.
Arctic air from Eastern Europe formed a pocket of very cold air at high altitude (-35ºC at 5,000 metres), forming storm clouds over the western Mediterranean, he explained.
“Had this happened in the autumn it would have produced torrential rain, but being winter the precipitation fell as heavy snow,” he said. Sr Olcina noted ‘gota frías’ are atmospheric situations that can happen at any time of year, hitting the coast with rain, wind and waves, or even snow.
The temperature of the sea was 19ºC before the storm, and heat in the water causes very energetic storm clouds to form, but it has since dropped to 16.5ºC.
While last year’s weather was unusual due to the atmospheric circulation of El Niño, starting with an unseasonably warm winter, this year has begun with more normal wintery conditions.
Our photos were taken during an attempted ascent of Aitana from Confrides on Saturday, which had to be abandoned at around 1,200 metres with the snow around 40cm deep near the Fuente del Arbol natural spring. More on the snow on p32.