Snow forces over 24,000 Spanish children to stay home from school
Galicia is the worst hit by the cold spell, but Mediterranean is expecting abundant rain this weekend
The cold weather affecting Spain will hang around throughout the weekend, bringing abundant rain to the western Mediterranean area. So far, Galicia has been hardest hit by the falling temperatures, which brought snow to the northwestern region.
On Thursday, over 24,000 preschool, elementary and high school students stayed home in 173 municipalities across the region. The snow was up to five centimeters deep at elevations of 500 meters.
Three flights to the city of Vigo (two from Madrid and one from Bilbao) had to be rerouted to Santiago de Compostela due to the adverse weather conditions.
Weekend forecast
The western Mediterranean, including the Balearic Islands, will see heavy showers beginning on Friday afternoon and extending to Saturday.
The Spanish meteorology agency AEMET is forecasting that the rainy, occasionally stormy weather will gradually move northeast, sweeping across Catalonia, northern Aragon, Navarre and eastern parts of the Cantabrian coast on Saturday.
The western Mediterranean will see heavy showers beginning on Friday afternoon
Snow is expected in northeastern Spain at elevations of around 1,000 meters on Friday and around 800 meters on Saturday.
The rest of the peninsula will experience scattered showers and falling temperatures. A new Atlantic front could affect southwestern Spain on Saturday and Sunday, bringing rain to the area.
The new rainy spell comes shortly after weather authorities announced that Spain’s eastern Valencia region has just experienced the wettest winter on record.
English version by Susana Urra.
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