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Joan Collins DURING the past few days the weatherman has been saying that there will be snow on the mountains on Majorca. However, there are many people on Majorca who have a pleasant memory, from their childhood or infancy, of an island covered in white, with deep layers of snow making the countryside appear like Switzerland. In February of 1956 the island had the biggest fall of snow recorded in the second part of the 20th century. In this cold month snow also fell on the Paseo Maritimo in Palma. Layers of snow formed on the boats and the Cathedral was “iced” offering a new and fascinating perspective of the building. According to figures released by Agusti Jansa, director of the Meteorological Centre, during the month of February that year, snow the thickness of a palm covered the town for seven consecutive days. Majorca has never had snow that thick since. The people, sheltering in their homes, looked out onto the accumulating snow with fascination. The photographer Planas i Muntanya went out into the streets to record the images of those days for posterity. If the snow was bad in Palma, in the outlying districts it was deeper and lasted longer. In Arta it is recorded that they had 17 consecutive days with snow on the ground. Temperatures fell to 13.5 degrees below zero in Lluc and 3.5 below zero in Palma. Neverthless, this was not the only bad bout of snow on the island. Two years before, in 1954, the snow lasted for four days in Calvia. In 1940 Palma was covered for a day. In 1958 it snowed again but not all parts of Majorca were affected.