Spain warned of another big freeze on Sunday

28 January 2005

MADRID-Spain should brace itself for another big freeze on Sunday, forecasters warned.

Though temperatures have risen over the past 24 hours, they are set to fall again by this Sunday, said Angel Rivera, head of the National Meteorological Institute.

Another polar air pocket was set to pass over western Europe which should last until next Tuesday.

So far, at least three people have lost their lives in different incidents linked to the cold snap which has gripped Spain this week.

Even though the weather has warmed up slightly, heavy snowfalls have caused problems on 200 roads across Spain and in the Balearic Islands.

In Ceuta, the Spanish territory in north Africa, temperatures fell to a 50-year low, at two degrees below zero.

Air traffic across Spain has been badly hit, with cancellations and delays caused by ice and snow, according to AENA, the company which runs the country’s airports.

In Valencia, in north-east Spain, forecasters found temperatures on Thursday night had dipped to minus ten.

They said minus two degrees in Alicante was the lowest there for the past 34 years.

But the coldest was Teruel, in Aragon, where temperatures fell to minus 14.9 degrees on Friday morning.

In Palencia, in northern Spain, heavy snow and ice has meant 142 small villages have been cut off, leaving 8,155 people stranded.

In Andalusia, in southern Spain, temperatures fell to minus 11 in Huescar, near Granada.

In the Seville area, traffic on seven roads has been badly disrupted.

In Palma, Majorca, the main C-710 road was closed and a number of other routes have been badly disrupted.

In Majorca and Ibiza, temperatures have fallen to one degree below zero – their lowest since 1965.

In Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, ice on the roads has forced authorities to close the main road to the National Park of Teide, a major tourist attraction.

But in Soria and Navarre traffic routes were beginning to return to normal after three days of disruption.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news