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Central Spain records temperatures of -25°C after snowstorm

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Central Spain records temperatures of -25°C after snowstorm

#91

Post by throw0101a »

nojokes wrote: post #68
cs702 wrote: post #11

For those accustomed to US/Imperial units, -25×9÷5+32=-13°F. Temperatures in Madrid dropped to -16°C (3°F). As others here have mentioned, these temperatures are unusually low for January in this region of Spain. They are the kinds of temperatures one would have seen in January during the "Little Ice Age" between the 15th and 19th centuries.[a][b][c] Let's hope this unusual drop in temperature is just a "one-off" rar…

In principle snow is good. It is better than rain as it will not flow quickly away. Melting snow lets more water to sink into ground and build up water table.

As someone who lives in Canada: you don't have to shovel rain.

Re: Central Spain records temperatures of -25°C after snowstorm

#92

Post by dieortin »

maaaaattttt wrote: post #33

To put this in context as well, most places (at the least in the southern parts of Spain) don't have central heating systems or proper insulation. A fireplace or reversible A/C if you're lucky.

In the central parts of Spain they do have heating systems and proper insulation. Winters are cold there, just not as cold as this year.

Re: Central Spain records temperatures of -25°C after snowstorm

#93

Post by dieortin »

u678u wrote: post #57
cal5k wrote: post #2

Cold-blooded Canadian here, so forgive me for asking - is this highly unusual?

The Spanish people definitely dont have Canada quality heating or insulation. Compared to most of the world Canada is pretty much like living in the arctic. :) Even Americans dont want to live in the top half of the USA any more.

I don’t think heating quality or insulation is a problem for most people in central Spain.

Re: Central Spain records temperatures of -25°C after snowstorm

#94

Post by serf »

throw0101a wrote: post #91
nojokes wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In principle snow is good. It is better than rain as it will not flow quickly away. Melting snow lets more water to sink into ground and build up water table.

As someone who lives in Canada: you don't have to shovel rain.

as a former citizen of Huntington Beach CA during the 1997 El Nino storms, i'd take the snow.

I have the newspaper clipping of my grandmother being rescued from her home via dinghy by city rescue workers. Everyone I knew had their house ruined in hours after weeks of shoveling sandbags fruitlessly in front of the neighborhoods and homes.

And that was just the flood damage and personal effect , itself.

Untold amounts of environmental and biological damage occurred when sea-levels were temporarily higher than any of the sanitation and oil-recollection facilities that were in town.

That said , snow sucks, but i'd rather sweep it off my roof and winterize my plumbing than attempting to figure out the physics behind flood-proofing acres of land (almost always fruitlessly) and having to surf in sewage for years past the event.

Re: Central Spain records temperatures of -25°C after snowstorm

#95

Post by ben_w »

baxtr wrote: post #54
cs702 wrote: post #11

For those accustomed to US/Imperial units, -25×9÷5+32=-13°F. Temperatures in Madrid dropped to -16°C (3°F). As others here have mentioned, these temperatures are unusually low for January in this region of Spain. They are the kinds of temperatures one would have seen in January during the "Little Ice Age" between the 15th and 19th centuries.[a][b][c] Let's hope this unusual drop in temperature is just a "one-off" rar…

Wasn’t this kinda expected? It’s an El Niño year I believe? Australian summer is also colder than usual I think. EDIT: Seems like it’s a “La niña” Winter...

The average minimum in Madrid in January is +3°C, and -3°C in Molina de Aragón, so no.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Madrid

https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/spain/molina-de-aragon-clim...

Re: Central Spain records temperatures of -25°C after snowstorm

#96

Post by loosetypes »

These same areas have also seen increasingly warmer summers in recent times, right?

While it may be hard to speculate short and long term regional changes, does anyone have a recommendations for interactive tools to explore, say, monthly temperatures for a given area for the past however many years?

Re: Central Spain records temperatures of -25°C after snowstorm

#97

Post by maxerickson »

arcturus17 wrote: post #86
throwaway5752 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely abnormal weather for Madrid. It would be objectively stupid for them to have prepared well for arctic weather, given the average temperature in January is not even below 0 C and they get on average almost no snowfall in an average year.

That’s what I meant when I said it’s normal that we are ill-prepared for this situation.

Just for the sake of comparison, Detroit gets ~33 inches of snow a year (~84 cm) and takes a number of days to clear out after much of a blizzard. It's not real worth it to have an excess of equipment that really only sees a few days of use a year (or decade!).

Re: Central Spain records temperatures of -25°C after snowstorm

#98

Post by m12k »

It's worth reiterating that the problem is climate change, not just global warming. There's more energy in the atmosphere, and that can lead to warmer weather (on average this is the case) but it also means there's more energy to whip up storms or move regions of hot or cold air much further, to places that are not used to them. So unusually cold weather can in fact be a result of climate change.

Re: Central Spain records temperatures of -25°C after snowstorm

#100

Post by dsego »

throw0101a wrote: post #91
nojokes wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In principle snow is good. It is better than rain as it will not flow quickly away. Melting snow lets more water to sink into ground and build up water table.

As someone who lives in Canada: you don't have to shovel rain.

There is a funny joke about a Bosnian in Canada, you may appreciate it. https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/3dcn76/the_diary_of_...
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