thinkSPAIN Logo
  • Property for Sale
  • To Rent
  • Holidays
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • News
    • € EUR
    • £ GBP
    • $ USD
    • ARS
    • AUD
    • BRL
    • CAD
    • CHF
    • CLP
    • CNY
    • COP
    • CZK
    • DKK
    • HKD
    • ISK
    • JPY
    • MXN
    • NOK
    • NZD
    • PLN
    • RUB
    • SEK
    • SGD
    • TRY
    • ZAR
    • Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter
    • Give website feedback or report an issue
    • Professionals/Advertiser Login
    • Advertise your Property on thinkSPAIN
    • Sell your property with an estate agent
    • Add your Business to the Directory
    • Advertising with thinkSPAIN
    • List a job vacancy on thinkSPAIN
    • Follow thinkSPAIN on Facebook
    • Follow thinkSPAIN on Twitter
  • 0
  • 0
    • By Signing up you are agreeing with our Terms and Privacy Policy.

      Looking for the Professionals/Advertiser Login?
      Sign in with Google Sign in with Apple Sign in with Facebook
      or

      Don't have an account?  

      • Follow us:

Sign up

By Signing up you are agreeing with our Terms and Privacy Policy.
Sign in with Google Sign in with Apple Sign in with Facebook
or

Already have a thinkSPAIN account? Sign in

Sign in/Register

By Signing up you are agreeing with our Terms and Privacy Policy.
Sign in with Google Sign in with Apple Sign in with Facebook
or

Don't have an account?

Forgot your password?

Subscribe to our Newsletter

By submitting this form, you confirm that you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Feedback is welcome

By submitting this form, you confirm that you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
thinkSPAIN Logo

Glacier in central Spain? Hailstorm causes rare and fleeting photo opportunity

 

Glacier in central Spain? Hailstorm causes rare and fleeting photo opportunity

thinkSPAIN Team 06/11/2020

Glacier in central Spain? Hailstorm causes rare and fleeting photo opportunity
STORMS over the past few days brought hail to inland parts of the country – and in a central Spanish village, it was so dense that it formed a glacier.

Olive-farmer Álvaro Nieto filmed the result of the hailstorm on one of his fields in Porzuna (Ciudad Real province), and his Twitter video shows how it led to a thick, moving ice-sheet being created.

Scenes like the above photograph – a screen-shot from Álvaro's Twitter video – are normally consistent with Arctic and Antarctic regions, or at very high altitudes in cooler climates, meaning the landowner was keen to get it on camera before it melted, in case nobody believed him.

His footage has gone viral and been shown in the national and regional press, so it has been immortalised now, even though it would have turned to slush and then to mud within a day or so.

Hail left a thick, white covering on the hill known as the Cerro Santo, and when it slid off, what landed at the bottom on top of part of his olive grove looked like something out of the Patagonia, the Alpes or the polar regions.

Although it buried the lower parts of several of his trees, olives are hardy and used to the wilder climates found at altitudes, where they grow best – in fact, they can live to be thousands of years old.

And the 'glacier' was very localised, so Porzuna's local olive crop has not suffered any negative effects from the hailstorm.

Nieto says his olive harvest will go ahead from about mid-December as usual.

Mayor of Porzuna Carlos Jesús Villajos says hailstones struck the village at around 15.30 on Wednesday in a 'very specific area', meaning they were not widespread, even if their effects were dramatic from a photography point of view.

Despite being a southern European country and with weather to match, and sub-tropical natural features such as deserts, fan palms and cacti, Spain, curiously, has points in common with countries bordering the Arctic circle – the Aurora Borealis has been spotted from Spanish territory on a handful of occasions, and it even has geysers.

 

 

 

Related Topics

  • Environment

You may also be interested in ...

  • Property for sale in Porzuna
Advertisement
Advertisement

More News & Information

The big freeze – unusually low temperatures across much of Spain
Environment 30/01/2023
The big freeze – unusually low temperatures across much of Spain

Forecast lows of -9ºC mean that 13 Spanish regions in central and northern Spain are still on yellow alert for icy conditions according to the state meteorological agency, AEMET.

View
Joy in the ski resorts as the first major snowfalls of the season arrive
Environment 16/01/2023
Joy in the ski resorts as the first major snowfalls of the season arrive

The first big snowfalls of the season started falling in the early hours of Monday morning and have brought smiles to the faces of skiers, snowboarders and ski resort staff alike.

View
Into the wild: 'Baby safari' at the BioParc
Animals/Pets 15/11/2022
Into the wild: 'Baby safari' at the BioParc

ELEPHANTS being born in the middle of Spain's third-largest city is not something that happens every day. In fact, until this month, it had never happened before.

View
Princess of Asturias Awards: Spain's home-grown ‘Nobel Prizes’ and their winners
Society 08/11/2022
Princess of Asturias Awards: Spain's home-grown ‘Nobel Prizes’ and their winners

WINNING a Nobel Prize might be the highest form of prestige on earth and the ultimate goal of every artist, scientist or public figurehead – but the next best thing has to be earning Spain's national version, a...

View
Advertisement
  1. Spain
  2. Castile-La Mancha
  3. Ciudad Real province
  4. Porzuna
  5. Glacier in central Spain? Hailstorm causes rare and fleeting photo opportunity

Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. More information