Meseta weather - mid-to-late March

[Mark2012]

Hello all,

Myself and a friend will be walking for a week or so from Burgos next month, starting on March 18.

I'm wondering what sort of weather we can expect, beyond the usual sound advice to expect anything?

I walked this route twice before, but those time were in May and July, so I'm guessing March will be different.

I've been keeping an eye on the weather forecast and temperatures for Burgos and Leon over the last few weeks, and it seems like the numbers haven't really being trending upwards yet. It looks like it's kinda cold over there.

Is that the norm for this time of year? Is it realistic to expect things to improve very much between here and the middle of March?

Whatever about temperatures, I'll probably be happy enough if we don't see much rain!

 

[Mark Lee]

Check out www.wunderground.com.
It's a weather site and you can check the weather on various parts of the Camino from past years. Gives you a baseline on what to expect.

 

[jeffnd]

I was on the Meseta at that time, so here's a weather report from 2 years ago!

During the first part of my Camino, from St. Jean to Burgos, the locals along the way kept remarking that it had been unseasonably warm. The weather was beautiful. I reached Burgos on March 22nd. We got a shot of freezing rain that night and the next morning was much cooler than what I had been used to.

The next day, leaving Hontanas, pilgrims were taking pictures of the sign that read 3 degrees C. A few hours later in Castrojeriz, a driving rain began with gale force winds. I gave up at Itero da le Vega that day.

The next morning started out much like the day before, cold and windy. When I reached Fromista, once again I was walking in a driving rain storm. In the afternoon, you'd get a burst of rain and then the sun would come out, making everything extremely humid and miserable. But by 5pm or so, the rain had stopped.

I made it to Carrion de los Condes that night. We got a little shot of snow overnight, but the sun was out and by 9 am everything had melted. I had friends who were a few days behind, and they told me they'd gotten much more snow.

The next day was Ledigos to El Burgo Ranero. Another perfect spring day. Sunshine and no rain.

El Burgo Ranero to Puente Villarente started off as another nice day, but it was pouring rain by late afternoon. The next day into Leon was rainy as well.

In short, expect rain, expect sun, expect everything!

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

Hello all,

Myself and a friend will be walking for a week or so from Burgos next month, starting on March 18.

I'm wondering what sort of weather we can expect, beyond the usual sound advice to expect anything?

I walked this route twice before, but those time were in May and July, so I'm guessing March will be different.

I've been keeping an eye on the weather forecast and temperatures for Burgos and Leon over the last few weeks, and it seems like the numbers haven't really being trending upwards yet. It looks like it's kinda cold over there.

Is that the norm for this time of year? Is it realistic to expect things to improve very much between here and the middle of March?

Whatever about temperatures, I'll probably be happy enough if we don't see much rain!

very chilly in the morning and then nice to warm to 'too warm' during the day, dropping to chilly/cold in the evening (but not freezing). very possibly some rain too.

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Hello all,

Myself and a friend will be walking for a week or so from Burgos next month, starting on March 18.

I'm wondering what sort of weather we can expect, beyond the usual sound advice to expect anything?

I walked this route twice before, but those time were in May and July, so I'm guessing March will be different.

I've been keeping an eye on the weather forecast and temperatures for Burgos and Leon over the last few weeks, and it seems like the numbers haven't really being trending upwards yet. It looks like it's kinda cold over there.

Is that the norm for this time of year? Is it realistic to expect things to improve very much between here and the middle of March?

Whatever about temperatures, I'll probably be happy enough if we don't see much rain!

Hi Mark, nobody can predict the weather. It is as it is.
Wish you a "sunny" Camino , Peter.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I live on the Meseta. In March you can expect a lot of wind in your face, sometimes mixed with rain, sometimes with sunshine. But the wind is the consistent item. Nights are chilly, days are mostly superb walking weather -- cool and breezy.

 

[Seabird]

Check out www.wunderground.com.
It's a weather site and you can check the weather on various parts of the Camino from past years. Gives you a baseline on what to expect.

I had looked at this previously, and was wondering what city best represents the historical weather for the route over the Pyrenees? What I really want to know is whether the temperature in mid-April has ever been below -10 degrees celsius.

 

[KinkyOne]

Try this one:
http://www.caminodesantiagotiempo.com/

Ultreia!

 

[Mark Lee]

I had looked at this previously, and was wondering what city best represents the historical weather for the route over the Pyrenees? What I really want to know is whether the temperature in mid-April has ever been below -10 degrees celsius.

Check both SJPdP and Roncesvalles.

 

[Seabird]

Check both SJPdP and Roncesvalles.

I don't think either city is listed. At least I could never find them on that site. You can pull up a list of the cities covered by typing in the country, and SJPdP is not on the France list, nor is Roncesvalles on the Spain list. Am I missing something? Have you pulled up the weather for these places?

 

[Dave C.]

I don't think either city is listed. At least I could never find them on that site. You can pull up a list of the cities covered by typing in the country, and SJPdP is not on the France list, nor is Roncesvalles on the Spain list. Am I missing something? Have you pulled up the weather for these places?

You can check current weather in St. Jean and Orreaga (Roncesvalles) on weather.com .

 

[Tincatinker]

I walked the Meseta in March 2012 into a wet head wind. My umbrella did its job.

 

[Mark Lee]

I don't think either city is listed. At least I could never find them on that site. You can pull up a list of the cities covered by typing in the country, and SJPdP is not on the France list, nor is Roncesvalles on the Spain list. Am I missing something? Have you pulled up the weather for these places?

Yeah, I tried as well, but no luck. I could only find current weather.

 

[Tincatinker]

Here is a link to the current forecast for Burgos - snow at the week-end pilgrims beware. http://www.aemet.es/es/eltiempo/prediccion/municipios/burgos-id09059

The Aemet site also contains historical data if you rummage around a bit.

Edit: Clicking on 'Municipios' will take you to a map of Spain. You can then click on a Province & select specific forecasts from there.

NB Snow is also forecast for Carrion. Looks like the whole Meseta may be wearing a white coat this coming weekend.

 

[naplesdon]

AccuWeather.com is pretty good with extended forecasts, radar and nearby conditions.

 

[CaminoDebrita]

I am walking from Burgos onward beginning mid March, and am really interested in this thread. Thanks for it. Helpful.

 

[Mark Lee]

I had looked at this previously, and was wondering what city best represents the historical weather for the route over the Pyrenees? What I really want to know is whether the temperature in mid-April has ever been below -10 degrees celsius.

Having heard of the occasional snowy day in May walking from SJPdP to Roncesvalles, I would guess that there have been some days close to that in mid April, but to dip that low is probably a rarity for that time of year and I imagine the Napoleon route would be closed to travel if it did.

 

[Seabird]

After searching wunderground.com, weather.com, and accuweather.com, I only found historical information on weather.com. I could get historical "average" high and low for April on Accuweather. On weather.com, I could get observed readings for the past year.

 

[boertjes]

I've been watching the weather for this time frame as well. Will be starting in Leon on 16Mar. Have been using Accuweather site, they have extended forecast by the month. 16C highs, 1C low. Early spring for me, -10C here.

 

[Conor2015]

Hi Mark,

I walked the Meseta in late March and on into early April 2014. My recollection was that is was generally overcast, cool with some days windy accompanied by light rain showers. Not particularly pleasant to be honest.

A rain jacket to act as a buffer to the wind, layers and a woolly hat came in very handy. I was glad when the temperatures increased after I left the fairly featureless meseta (my opinion).

Regards
Conor