In January 2021, the purple warnings for snowfall have been activated for the primary time in Madrid. Coinciding with this second anniversary, there isn’t a forecast for any main episode of snowfall in Spain to return. world warming”
On January 5, 2021, the Philomena squall, the sixth of the 2020-2021 season, was baptized earlier than delivery. Filomena was predicted upfront and the snow accumulations that have been predicted, which resulted within the “nice snowfall” of current occasions, have been fairly correct, regardless of how uncommon they appeared at first, as reported by tiempo.es.
On January 8 and 9, a snowfall, which might be categorized as historic, left as much as 50 cm of snow within the capital Madrid and in different areas of the middle and east of the peninsula.
The purple warnings for snowfall have been activated in Madrid, warnings that had by no means been activated since there have been data and that represented the utmost degree of meteorological warning that may be issued, as a result of it isn’t frequent, attributable to its distinctive depth and its very excessive threat. excessive for the inhabitants.
How might Filomena produce such intense snowfall?
There have been quite a few elements that made this snowfall so distinctive. The entry of very chilly polar air over the peninsula weeks earlier than had introduced temperatures to very low values, with lows beneath 0ºC in many of the nation and even all the way down to -16ºC in some factors. When the Filomena storm reached the Peninsula, the nice and cozy and humid air interacted with this chilly air and all of the precipitation was within the type of snow.
During the next week, the heavy layer of snow of between 20 and 50 cm on common on the bottom along with an anticyclone centered on the peninsula gave rise to an distinctive chilly wave that lasted your entire following week and during which data have been damaged. temperature, reducing the thermometer to -26.5ºC in Torremocha de Jiloca, Teruel.
And local weather change, did it have one thing to do with Filomena?
Mar Gómez, head of Meteorology at eltiempo.es, affirms that “local weather change just isn’t at odds with one of these state of affairs and it can’t be denied that local weather change exists attributable to this case of outstanding snowfall and really freezing temperatures.”
Today, storms like Filomena can’t be immediately related to local weather change, however “we do know, and with rising certainty, that most of the excessive climate occasions that we’re experiencing on our planet are amplified by world warming,” says Mario Picazo. , meteorologist from eltiempo.es.
But, can an occasion like Filomena be predicted in time?
In actuality, it’s fully unattainable to foretell whether or not there will probably be a snow episode like Filomena’s in a particular 12 months or months upfront. These occasions can solely be forecast days upfront. And, though it’s recurring to see headlines yearly about whether or not a Philomena goes to strategy (it already occurred in 2022), the reality is that they’re speculations with out scientific basis.
It is completely unattainable to foretell particular conditions past roughly two weeks. Atmospheric prediction may be very complicated, and though it improves yearly, there’s nonetheless an extended option to go. It is for this very purpose that it’s unattainable to affirm that there will probably be a Philomena 2023 sooner or later this winter: climate forecasts aren’t dependable for a lot of days, given the very chaotic nature of the environment.
Filomena 2023: no forecast of a giant snowfall in sight
For the subsequent few days, coinciding with this second anniversary, there isn’t a forecast for any main episode of snowfall in Spain to return.
We have had a Christmas with out snow, a situation that’s truly extra frequent than “white” Christmas, and a few first days of the 12 months with file warmth for a month of January (with Bilbao registering greater than 25ºC on New Year, for instance ).