Almost widespread snowfall and rain pushed Spain back into the middle of winter on the first weekend in March. All autonomous communities and Melilla are on alert due to rainfall, strong gusts of wind or strong waves in coastal areas.
Responsible for the instability is a powerful Atlantic front that crosses the country from northwest to southeast, leaving behind low, although not extreme, temperatures, completely overcast skies and extensive rainfall across the entire peninsula.
Twelve autonomous communities and the city of Melilla will warn of wind, waves, rain, snow or avalanches this Sunday, according to the forecast of the state meteorological agency (Aemet). In the Pyrenees, locally persistent rainfall and significant snow accumulations are expected in the mountainous areas of the north and center of the peninsula and surrounding areas, as well as intermittent strong winds with very strong gusts in areas on the coast and in parts of the inland and on the Balearic Islands.
In the center of the peninsula, the highs this Saturday were around 10 degrees, although in the provinces of the Mediterranean coast these values will rise to 20 degrees, and the lows recorded yesterday morning and which will be repeated next night have only just changed from zero in Burgos, León and Palencia. The snow has forced the use of chains in the ports of Cotos and Navacerrada. In Aragon, the A-2606 roads between Panticosa and El Balneario and the A-139 in Benasque, both in Huesca province, were closed to traffic due to the risk of avalanches.
Rain, snowfall, waves and strong winds hit the country after several days of flooding in the northern third due to the flooding of some rivers, in particular the Ebro as it passes through the municipalities of Navarra, La Rioja and Aragón, although the situation is tending to normalize. The peak of the flood has already reached the main towns and riverside towns and reached the Mequinenza reservoir in Zaragoza. Therefore, the Government of Aragon has decided to lower the state of emergency (from one to two) and the troops of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), which had been working together in the region in recent days, have been demobilized.
The Ulibarri reservoir in Alavés continues this Saturday for the third day in a row to release water – about 39 cubic meters per second – but no problems or floods have been recorded on the banks of the Zadorra river, into which the water of this reservoir flows. The Ebro Hydrographic Confederation has now ended the Ebro flooding episode recorded in the municipality of La Rioja in recent days and all stations that measure capacity are recovering to normal values.
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Heavy snowfall led to some disruptions in the road network. For example, the closure of traffic on the A-2 in the province of Soria was enforced. There were traffic disruptions at night between kilometers 140 and 144 between the towns of Benamira and Esteras de Medinaceli. Traffic was also blocked on a 15-kilometer stretch in Toledo on the highway between Navamorcuende and El Real de San Vicente. Elsewhere on the road network, traffic for trucks and articulated lorries was disrupted due to adverse weather conditions on secondary roads in Asturias and Aragon.
Ahead of the weather forecasts scheduled for this Saturday, all the Autonomous Communities and the city of Melilla woke up with orange alerts – significant risk – or yellow – risk – due to snowfall, heavy rain, strong gusts of wind or strong waves. In seven municipalities (Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Galicia, Cantabria, Castile and León and Madrid) the warnings are yellow, due to snow falling in some cases and strong waves being recorded on the coast in others. The heaviest snowfalls that led to the triggering of weather warnings were recorded in the municipalities of Aragon, Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and León, Castile-La Mancha, Catalonia, Galicia, Madrid, Navarre and La Rioja.
The storm will not let up this Sunday. Twelve autonomous communities and the city of Melilla are on alert due to the bad weather. For Andalusia there is an orange warning due to high risk of waves and a yellow warning due to wind. For Aragon there is a yellow warning for rain, wind and avalanches and an orange warning for snowfall. The yellow snow warning remains in effect in Asturias, Castile and León and Madrid and no worsening of the weather is forecast. There is a yellow warning for both wind gusts and waves in the Balearic Islands. In Cantabria, however, there will only be a yellow wave warning.
Catalonia expects an orange warning for waves and wind on Sunday, and there will also be a yellow warning for rain and snowfall. A yellow warning for snowfall and waves also applies in Galicia. In Murcia the warning will be orange for waves and yellow for wind, while in Navarre the warning will be orange for snow and yellow for avalanches. Finally, the Valencian Community will have an orange warning for wind and a yellow warning for waves, which will also be taken into account in Melilla.