• AEMET Observatories: This is how extreme temperatures are measured in 'Spanish Siberia'

  • Filomena. "If we had had a thousand chains we would have sold them in a few hours

  • Cold wave. The coldest night in decades freezes Spain: 50 towns fall below -11.5ºC

Since 2001, Spain has not suffered such a long cold wave.

The prolongation of the episode of extreme cold that arrived after the passage of the storm Filomena until next Wednesday, January 20, will mean at least nine consecutive days with very low temperatures in much of Spain that have even reached below -25 ºC in Bello (Teruel) or Molina de Aragón (Guadalajara).

Precisely

in Molina they have been below zero since the afternoon of Three Kings Day, also during the central days of the day.

As Rubén del Campo, spokesman for the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) explained this morning, from January 6 there was only a brief interruption on the 10th, during which a grade was not reached.

"Something similar is happening, to a greater or lesser extent, in other nearby areas, such as Calamocha (Teruel), which has been below zero degrees for several consecutive days," says the meteorologist.

The cold wave that started 2021, caused and aggravated by the large amount of snow that fell a week ago and still does not melt, is nevertheless far from the one that took place in December 2001: it lasted a total of 17 days, which is why it is considered the longest in the last 50 years, according to Mar Goméz, head of the meteorological portal eltiempo.es.

Although it only lasted somewhat less, 14 days,

the January 1985 cold wave was globally more intense than the 2001 one

because lower temperatures were reached and affected 45 of the 50 Spanish provinces.

"The average anomaly was -5.5 ºC and the minimum temperature reached -7.2 ºC, says Gómez

The frosts continue

During the last morning, the temperatures have not been as low as those of the previous nights, although it has also been very cold in some places, such as in the localities of the so-called cold triangle.

In Molina de Aragón there were -13 ºC and -12 ºC in Calamocha, the páramos of Guadalajara and other areas of Teruel.

The very cold air mass is still stagnant in the interior of the country so we will have to wait until the middle of next week to end this cold wave.

As Del Campo explains, after the passage of the storm Filomena, there is an extensive blanket of snow that continues to cover a large part of the interior of the peninsula.

On the other hand, "the clear skies and the calm wind have caused this stagnation of the cold air mass so the minimums will continue to be very low for a few more days and that is why the AEMET has extended its warning until Wednesday" .

According to the meteorologist, "the presence of snow is making it difficult to forecast temperatures, which are normally very accurate, but with this layer the uncertainty is even greater and there may be changes in the values," he says.

Thus, for today, Friday

, strong generalized frosts are expected in large areas of the interior,

with night temperatures of between -10 and -15 ºC in areas of eastern Castilla-La Mancha and southern Aragon, and that they could even fall of -15 ºC. "It is therefore necessary to bundle up for the next few days.

Weekend

On Saturday there will be a decrease in minimum temperatures, so again there will be strong frosts, especially in the south and east of the Community of Madrid, and neighboring areas of Castilla-La Mancha.

"There will be strong frosts in the moors of Teruel and Guadalajara and in the surroundings of the Pyrenees. In these areas it will drop below -8 and -10 and locally some areas will drop below -15 ºC", says Del Campo.

In the rest of the two plateaus there will also be frosts although less severe, except in the Ebro valley, where the strong wind prevents frosts from registering.

Very cold also for Extremadura, which will reach -5º C.

On Saturday there will only be weak rains in the Balearic Islands and some mountainous areas of the Canary Islands.

The situation will be repeated on Sunday with generalized frosts in the interior but it may be that less intense than on Saturday because, according to Del Campo, temperatures could rise between three and five degrees.

Still, it can drop below -8 or -10 at night.

In the Valencian Community and in the Region of Murcia on Sunday daytime temperatures could reach 20 degrees.

Indoors, in general, it will be more than 10 degrees in wide areas of the interior that do not have accumulated snow or fog.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Science and Health

  • science

Exploration NASA also speaks Spanish

Covid-19 The Hespérides ship's trip to Antarctica is aborted due to the coronavirus: there are already 10 positives among the crew

SOS archeology for the pyramid that served as a laboratory for the Giza plateau

See links of interest

  • Coronavirus

  • Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv - TD Systems Baskonia

  • Real Madrid - Athletic, live

  • CSKA Moscow - Barça

  • Spain - Brazil, live

  • FC Bayern Munich - Real Madrid