Cold snap to hit the Balearics this weekend

Joan Collins THE National Met Institute yesterday announced that a cold front will arrive this weekend bringing with it widespread snow at lower levels than usual. The Balearics will be affected with rain and high winds and snow above 800 metres is expected. Even so, this is better than Cantabria, where snow is expected at sea level, something which rarely happens here. From tomorrow both the Balearics and mainland Spain will be affected by the interaction between two disturbances in the atmosphere. Firstly, there is a storm approaching from northern Europe which will precipitate a cold front at low levels. Secondly, there is another storm which will initially settle over the Gulf of Cadiz but which will send humid air over all of mainland Spain. “As a consequence, it is probable that this will produce a storm with rain, snow and wind in a great part of mainland Spain and the Balearics” said a spokesman for the Institute. To be more specific, tomorrow there will be heavy rain in the south west of the Peninsula, which will move towards the north east, mainly affecting the middle of the eastern side of the mainland. As a consequence of the cold air coming from the north, it is probable that from late tomorrow night and during Saturday and Sunday there will be “snow at much lower levels than normal”. “This will be the case in many areas of the Peninsula, and snow could fall at sea level in Cantabria”. On the other hand, the arrival of a strong flow of cold air from the east over the Mediterranean coast will, from Saturday, bring heavy rainfall in Catalonia which could turn to torrential rain in some places. It is possible that this will then also be extended to other areas such as the Levante and the Balearic islands. On Saturday, the level at which snow is expected to fall will rise to 1'000-1'200 metres in the islands. Tomorrow and Saturday in the north of the Peninsula temperatures will drop. This drop in temperature will then start to move towards the south on Sunday. However, on Saturday temperatures will start to rise in the east, and this will extend to the whole of the north on Sunday. From Saturday the wind will be strong with very strong gusts in the Levante and Balearic areas. However, winds will be moderate inland.