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Staff Reporter THERE was a slight increase in temperatures yesterday but the Met office is warning that the cold weather is here to stay at least until the end of this week. Flights were delayed yesterday and farmers reported further damage to potato crops but the weatherman hinted at a brighter outlook starting on Sunday.

The coldest temperatures on the islands rose slightly yesterday and only one weather station registered below zero temperatures, Alfabia.
Other low temperatures were experienced at Lluc (0.7 degrees), Sa Pobla (4.5 degrees), Porreres (4.7 degrees), Son Sant Joan (5 degrees) and Porto Pí (7.4 degrees). However, the maximum temperatures were still low, no higher than 10 degrees on any part of the Balearic Islands.

There was snow in areas above 800 metres and in the next few days this limit will fluctuate between 700 and 800 metres. It does not look likely that there will be an improvement in the weather during this whole week, says the Balearic Met Office.

It will continue raining and snowing in those areas mentioned, although this will be infrequent with weak to moderate falls. The strong winds the islands experienced on Tuesday will not return, however it will still be windy, but on a lesser scale, said a spokesperson from the weather station.

In the last two days, ten tonnes of salt had to be thrown on the Sóller to Inca road, because of all the snow and ice that was present there. This road did not have to be closed though. In January during the cold weather that hit the Balearic Islands around 700 tonnes of salt had to be placed on the worst hit roads.

The Balearic Met Office is warning that this cold weather will remain and people will have to continue wearing their winter coats. This situation will be the same all week but it is predicted that the situation will change this Sunday.

Around forty flights between Palma and Madrid were delayed yesterday because of the cold.
Flights were delayed on average two hours at Palma's Son Sant Joan Airport because of the cold front that has affected the Spanish capital. All other flights from Palma airport did not experience delays, only the Madrid flights were affected.

At the Madrid-Barajas airport a total of 90 flights (43 take-offs and 47 landings) had to be cancelled yesterday because of the snow, as well as numerous delays to flights. This weather has also hampered other european capitals, such as Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.

The cold wave has further damaged the potato crops in Sa Pobla, most of which is exported to the United Kingdom. The farmers in Sa Pobla are now saying that 70 per cent of their potato crops have been lost because of the two consecutive months of snow and frost. “I cannot remember such a horrible winter in the last twenty years. The potato crops have suffered enormously in January and now February,” said the representative for the exporting company Mateu & UCO, Joan Mateu.