Spanish views from a small town

This will be short because I have to write it on my phone, since internet isn't going on my computer. And I have no idea when I will be able to change internet providers. There are negstionists. Generally, they do not inspire confidence, especially when what they negate is something that had been duly certified by science and experience. The pandemic, for instance. Even after a year there are people with their heads buried in some sand dune that claim it doesn't exist. Then there are those who never heard of Columbus, and still deny the Earth is round. But the latest type of negationist is the one who denies it snowed in Madrid this weekend.  Some bright soul took a snowball and tried to light it with the flame from a lighter. The snow didn't turn to water; it turned black where the flame had touched it, and it smelled of plastic. That person, who supposedly had taken an obligatory physics class in high school, claimed that that was proof that a large conspiracy, led by Bil...

Last night on the news cast, it seemed the only news was the snow in Madrid. The truth is, that it snowed from the middle of the country to the east, on the Mediterranean. Storm Filomena also dumped snow along the north, and it deluged in the south. We alone, here in the northwest, had mostly clear skies. The only spots that got some snow in Galicia were areas in Lugo and Ourense. We just continued to suffer the cold, along with a wind chill factor yesterday and today. But, oh, what a storm! It looked like memories of snowstorms in Boston, including abandoned cars on the highways. A good quantity of snow had been forescast, and by Friday's evening rush hour, enough had fallen that cars were stuck. The airport at Madrid-Barajas closed Friday evening, and it will remain closed until at least this afternoon. All trains, of any kind, into and from the capital, were cancelled; today they are re-starting, slowly. Roads are just beginning to be opened, after all day yesterday cleaning, an...

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.  Historia de Rianxo That January, a tongue of frigid air descended from the nether regions above Siber...

Today, for the first time in over a week, the only clouds are thin, high streaks in the vivid blue sky that show no threat. The air is clear and you can almost think your eyesight has grown sharp, considering how far into the distance you can see everything clearly. However, we are in February and that sharpness has a price - cold. Finally winter has arrived, just in time for it to leave. Places in northern Spain that usually get their first snowfall in December got it in February this year. Ski resorts finally have snow to sell, instead of just fresh mountain air. Kids who live in mountainous areas finally have a snow day as snowplows do their work. Drivers dust off their skills at adjusting tire chains to cross mountain passes. The weather has turned seasonable after a fall-cum-spring that had everything flowering early. But that's it, seasonable. Temperatures here on the Galician coast have fallen to around freezing at night and rise into the upper forties during the sun-ble...