SNOW and high winds are expected across practically the whole of mainland Spain and the Balearics today (Thursday), and it is likely residents on the Mediterranean coast will still be building snowmen on the beach.
Weather warnings were issued for Alicante and Valencia yesterday and have continued into today as temperatures overnight ranged from -1ºC to -10.1ºC inland and 2ºC down to -2ºC on the coast.
The first cold snap of winter 2016-2017 led to forecasts of snow even at sea-level, but few residents took this as literally as it turned out to be – in Dénia (pictured above left and below right) and Jávea, in the north of the province of Alicante, four inches (10 centimetres) of snow coated the towns and the beaches.
Countless locals took photos of unprecedented scenes of a thick carpet of white covering the landscape, the sand, their swimming pool terraces and orange and lemon trees.
The last time snow fell – and laid – on the beach in Dénia or Jávea was in February 1983, or 34 years ago.
Likewise in the city of Murcia, further south, snow had not been seen lying thick on the streets since that same year.
Authorities in towns throughout the two regions of Valencia and Murcia have taken extra measures to ensure the safety of homeless people living on the streets, and Valencia left metro stations open so they could shelter indoors.
Here, Local Police officers assisted 27 street-dwellers in one night.
In Catalunya, the cold front brought temperatures that nearly broke records – the town of Das (Girona province) watched the mercury plummet to -21.6ºC, almost reaching its historic low of -22.6ºC from decades ago, whilst in Puigcerdà thermometers dropped to -15ºC and even -1ºC in Barcelona, which enjoys reasonably mild winters.
A spike in demand has led to electricity prices shooting up from today, since with the ongoing below-average rainfall and wind over the past few months, the cheapest sources of power are not sufficient to cover everybody's heating.
Soaring electricity use of this nature was last seen in February 2012, when Spain was hit by Siberian winds that brought temperatures down to minus figures even in the warmest parts of the country where typical winter lows range from 5ºC to 10ºC.
Minister for energy Álvaro Nadal has urged electricity companies to be 'tremendously diligent', especially for the most vulnerable consumers, in ensuring no supply problems occur and nobody's connection is cut off due to non-payment for the time being, since -15ºC with no heating can be life-threatening even for healthy adults.
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