Snows of Yesteryear

This past week most of Europe has entered a deep freeze. Temperatures have gone down to -30ºC in much of eastern Europe, -20ºC in central Europe, and snow in such impossible places as the Greek islands and Sicily. Northern Spain has also taken a hit, and there are places in the foothills of the Pyrenees where more than a meter of snow has accumulated, as well as cities shivering with cold at -5ºC. This week a trough of air straight from Siberia is supposed to inundate most of Spain with temperatures that will dive to -15ºC in the more mountainous areas. 

But it's expected to be a dry wind in most of Spain, which means if there is any precipitation it will be on the lee side of the Pyrenees. It will be a case of open skies and feeble sun that won't warm the skin of a lizard. Thirty years ago the forecast was the same, but the outcome on our western coast was different. 

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That January, a tongue of frigid air descended from the nether regions above Siberia and plunged temperatures into the gelid zone. There were maximums in Helsinki of -20ºC, and in London of -4ºC. When it finally reached the Iberian peninsula, it coincided with a low pressure system that was trying to enter from the west. The moisture the system brought with it would have naturally fallen as rain, however, temperatures at high altitudes were much colder than normal. They were as low as -36ºC. That changed the rain to snow, and since temperatures remained below freezing in the layers of air it fell through, it didn't melt and landed on the earth as a good, old-fashioned snowfall. The conditions hadn't been just right for a snowfall like that since 1970, and before that, since 1963 and 1948. They've been close, since, but temperatures have not been cold enough at sea level for another storm like that. It's only snowed in the nearby mountains in the past thirty years, not on the coast. 

On the fourteenth of January, 1987, all of northern Spain was paralyzed by the snow and the cold. The only exception was the coastal south of Galicia. And that afternoon the snow fell. I wasn't here, I was living in Boston, then, with my own snowstorms, but my neighbors here who lived through it will never forget it. Kids were sent home early from school, cars were stuck, and everyone marvelled at the white landscape. 

Tonight and tomorrow the Siberian air mass is supposed to enter the peninsula, but conditions are ripe only for cold. I just hope the meteorologists are wrong and we get a surprise. Though I think I'm being too wishful and I should simply stock up on firewood in the kitchen to keep warm during the clear night.

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