MADRID (Reuters) – The Spanish capital, Madrid and much of the neighboring region of Castilla-La Mancha were on high alert on Friday for what meteorologists expect to be the heaviest snowfall in decades, caused by storm Filomena .
These events are rare in the region and are often detrimental to daily life and mobility as they come at a time when people return home after the Christmas and New Year holidays. This year, however, there is less traffic than usual due to restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
When heavy snow began to fall, authorities said Madrid’s large parks, including the famous Retiro next to the Prado Museum, would be closed from Friday afternoon as a precaution.
With snow forecasts of up to 20 cm (almost 8 inches) in 24 hours and temperatures expected to hover around zero degrees Celsius for much of the day, the south of the Madrid region, including the capital , is at its highest alert level for the first time since the system was created in 2007.
Ruben del Campo, a spokesman for the State Meteorological Agency, said the city would likely face the heaviest snowfall at least so far in the 21st century.
“Maybe we should go back to the snowfall of February 1984 or the snowfall of March 1971 to find similar precedents if the forecasts we expect are correct,” he added.
Light snow already covered Madrid on Thursday, a day after Spain recorded the lowest temperature recorded in the Iberian Peninsula, at -34.1C, in the Pyrenees to the north.
Storm Filomena is advancing through Spain after hitting the Canary Islands with strong winds and rain.
In Gran Canaria, a ferry with 59 passengers and 17 crew ran aground on Thursday night due to strong winds entering the port of Agaete.
On Friday, the coastguard was towing the ferry to the port, with the passengers and crew still on board, unharmed.
(This story corrects Filomena’s Spanish spelling)
Report by Emma Pinedo and Cristina Sanchez, edited by Andrei Khalip and Gareth Jones