Siberian front brings snow, torrential rain and gales

Already, emergency services and gritter-lorries are on standby on four motorways in Castilla y León over probably snowfall – the AP6 between Villalba and Adanero and the AP-61 between San Rafael and Segovia, both in the province of Segovia; the AP-51 between Villacastín and Ávila (Ávila province) and the AP-71 from León to Astorga (León province), all toll routes, currently have seven 'winter traffic bases' set up with 43 snow-ploughs and 200 maintenance and rescue workers ready to act.

Following reports at the weekend of exceptionally-low night temperatures throughout the country, weather warnings ranging from yellow to orange have been issued for 22 provinces for tomorrow (Tuesday).

Snow at low altitudes throughout the mainland, and at sea-level in parts of the north, is the result of a warm and humid mass of Atlantic air coming in from the south-east and a freezing front drifting over from Siberia towards the north-east of Spain.

Rain is expected to be torrential nationwide, and especially extreme on the Atlantic and southern Mediterranean coasts of Spain, reaching up to 150 litres per square metre (15 centimetres, or six inches), although marginally less severe down the east coast and in the Balearic Islands.

High winds including gale-force gusts are predicted in the early part of this week, with the cold snap forecast to remain until at least Wednesday.

The Siberian front has led to plummeting temperatures in Europe in general, with more icy weather en route.

Rome was under a thick carpet of snow this morning (Monday) for the first time since February 2012, and in some rural parts of Italy, night temperatures went down to -20ºC.

Two men have died in France – a 35-year-old street-dweller in the southern town of Valence when the mercury dropped to -3ºC overnight, and a man of 62 who lived in a hut in a forest in Yvelines, to the west of Paris.

Temperatures in France, from north to south, are expected to drop to around -10ºC overnight and, in Italy, the Siberian front is not likely to let up until at least Friday.

The UK has also forecast snow and freezing temperatures, with the east, south and south-east of England facing night figures of around -3ºC.

Photograph by the Guardia Civil