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Storm Filomena: Spain sees 'exceptional' snowfall

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The problem now will be the ice because temperatures will be very low next week.
I am more than sixty and never lived a snowfalll and temperatures.like those in Madrid.
I have boots, guetres and even crampons but most people don't have right shoes for this.
are guetres the same as gaiters? I cant even get "grippers" for my boots and being doddery I get anxious when there is even a hint of ice! :) I keep telling myself "walk soft and stay safe" :)

samarkand.
 
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are guetres the same as gaiters? I cant even get "grippers" for my boots and being doddery I get anxious when there is even a hint of ice! :) I keep telling myself "walk soft and stay safe" :)

samarkand.
Yes guetres are gaiters. Guetres is the French word. In Spain we also call them polainas. I have all this stuff because i am mountanier and I need it when I walk
Sierra de Madrid in winter.
 
cannot believe that is more than we have in Canada
No but that's not the point. 20 cm or 40 cm of snow are exceptional for Madrid and not exceptional for Canada. If something like this happens every 50 years, as it is the case for Madrid, and not in every winter month every year, as it is the case for Canada, then there is not sufficient know-how and experience and equipment to deal with it. You don't buy winter tyres and snow chains for your car when you know that it is unlikely that you use them in your lifetime and, likewise, you don't invest in an army of snowploughs for your city for example with an army of drivers who will start moving snow off the streets as soon as the first snowflakes appear.
 
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The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
What king of snowfall was thei4 8n Leon and Burgos and CF?
We can look for ourselves :). Webcams (from an earlier thread):

La Rioja: https://actualidad.larioja.org/webcams. Includes Logroño, Navarrete, Najera and Santo Domingo de la Calzada with great landscape views.​
O Cebreiro: http://www.crtvg.es/crtvg/camaras-web/o-cebreiro. The CRTVG website has a number of other webcams, including Portomarin and Santiago de Compostela.​
 
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The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Reports say there was more snow in the north. However, temperatutes in the north, in Leon, On Thursday recorded the lowest temperature in its history at -35.8 degrees Celsius (-32.44 degrees Fahrenheit) according to regional meteorological institute Noromet. Usually such cold limits snow fall?

@Kathar1na but I still haven’t found snowfalls accumulation yet.
 
but I still haven’t found snowfalls accumulation yet.
I'll leave it to @Pelegrin who has probably watched more weather news than all of us together recently ;) . From what I can tell, based on the news, is that it was unusually cold in some parts of Spain and it snowed an unusually amount of snow in other parts of Spain and none of this was on the Camino Frances.
 
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I'll leave it to @Pelegrin who has probably watched more weather news than all of us together recently ;) . From what I can tell, based on the news, is that it was unusually cold in some parts of Spain and it snowed an unusually amount of snow in other parts of Spain and none of this was on the Camino Frances.
Yesterday they said 50 l/m2. This is 50 cm of snow. Today we have a sunny day 4°C.
Wet snow, so, ice for next days
 
I can see a very unusual and long row of parked cars in O Cebreiro. And many children playing with sledges. :)
I suppose it is not so funny in other places.
 
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St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
In the mid-90s, we lived in Geneva for three years. Each yearend we celebrated Christmas in Geneva, then headed to Spain for a winter vacation. One year we were driving from Valencia to Madrid and encountered some fairly light snow. Cars were pulling off the highway, to allow the kids to get out and play in the snow in the nearby fields, since they never experienced snow before. Bob
 
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You are right! I occasionally look at the O Cebreiro webcam. I've never seen so many walkers and parked cars as right now on this apparently splendidly sunny winter day. And the road is clear of snow.
I came though O Cebreiro a couple of years ago In early March on a Sunday... much the same winter look as in the cam. . Lots of snow piled up, children playing and cars were parked everywhere. We did not stay there however...we went to Pedrafita. That day, the snow accumulation between La Faba and Albergue la Escuela had to be 2’-3’ deep! Took us quite a while to struggle through it. We were assured the path was open, by hotel and local bar. I suppose folks over 6 feet tall had an easier time of it!
 
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Cold, windy and rainy weekend here in Barcelona. But, no snow. I did see hail falling for just a few minutes last night. As a Canadian I will be able to manage with whatever snowfall may yet come!
 
Main roads and streets are now quite clean in Madrid. But secondary streets in neighborhoods are not accessible by normal cars and ambulances. There are also quite a few fallen trees on the streets.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
It is Winter. My concern would be on the impact it is having on distribution of vaccine or first responders.

If snow is rare in some areas most people just stay home and it will be gone shortly. Those accustomed to snow, higher elevations, are surely going about their business.

I encountered challenging snow on two Camino's. San Salvador where I had to deal with 3-4meter drifts in the mountains (April). Madrid between Cercedilla and Segovia where I had a foot (30cm) of snow on the mountain for 7km's (April). Just makes for a more challenging day and more caution.

Ultreya,
Joe
 
Peg has been expressing sympathy for Spain. She understands what is going on. She claims at one time she was in eight of the ten worse blizzards in the US. I'll add that one winter it snowed at least a bit every day in her town from Christmas to the first day of Spring. Upstate New York and lake effect snow.
 
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You haven’t experienced winter until you’ve attended Snowmaggeden in Atlanta where you can sleep in a bar if you can get to one or in your car on the freeway.
 
Not that this has anything to do with the actual subject, but I was informed that at the time of my birth, November 1947, the snow reached up to the back doorstep. (A town 8 miles from Glasgow).
Funny, I can’t remember...!!! 😁😁
I was young and loved the 1963 harsh winter. I remember adults talking about 1947.
 
Not that this has anything to do with the actual subject, but I was informed that at the time of my birth, November 1947, the snow reached up to the back doorstep. (A town 8 miles from Glasgow).
Funny, I can’t remember...!!! 😁😁
That begs the question, Kirkie, were you born at home?
 
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Pelegrin is right. The polar vortex is making all this happen.
 

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