Cole Sinanian
WINTER storm Monica will have blanketed much of the peninsula with snowfall, rain and hail by the time it dissipates late Sunday, with weather advisories in place in Catalonia, Aragon, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country.
According to Spanish weather authority AEMET, mountainous regions above 1,000 metres should expect the heaviest snowfall, with zones in the Pyrenees of the Huesca and Lleida provinces predicted to exceed to 20 centimetres of accumulation Saturday.
In some parts of the high Huesca Pyrenees, snow accumulation could exceed 70 centimetres, which has led AEMET to declare an avalanche advisory, putting the risk level at 40-70%.
In addition to Huesca and Lleida, snow accumulation of two centimetres or more is forecasted in the mountainous regions of Ourense, Lugo, Pontevedra, Granada, Burgos, Segovia, Soria, Guadalajara, Jaen, Albacete, Teruel, Avila, Leon, Salamanca, Palencia, Zamora, Cuenca, Barcelona, Madrid, Caceres, Girona, and La Rioja.
And in Andalucia, the peaks of the Sierra Nevada have seen some of the most significant snowfall accumulation in years, bringing much needed relief in the form of precipitation to a region that’s been gripped by drought since 2016.
The Sierra Nevada ski resort, however, had to close due to high winds, with gusts as high as 90 kilometres per hour reported.
Wind advisories are in place in the provinces of Menorca, Ceuta, Murcia, and Albacete, while in Almeria, gusts of up to 80 kilometres per hour are expected.
The weather front, fueled by an atmospheric river, flowed into the peninsula from the Atlantic this weekend, and will diminish by Monday.
With spring just weeks away, the late-season storm has provoked road closures throughout the country.
In Extremadura, officials closed the CC-224, 437, and 242 highways due to heavy snow on Saturday despite having deployed snow plough crews.
In Madrid and Segovia, 635 trucks were trapped in the snow and had to be abandoned by their drivers, while in Leon, police had to remove 30 trucks from the road after being blocked by snow.
Emergency services in Cadiz received more than 30 calls due to high winds and heavy rain on Saturday, Canal Sur reported, and one man was trapped in his car and had to be rescued after being stranded in an overflowing stream.
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