National
Freezing conditions continue as Spain recovers from a weekend of traffic chaos
By h.b.
Jan 11, 2009 - 8:04 PM

A series of errors from Government, regional administration and local town halls resulted in hundreds of thousands of motorists being trapped in the snow on Friday afternoon and evening in the centre of the country. Each administration blamed the other for the chaos which resulted in practically all access roads to Madrid being blocked and the closure of Barajas airport for five hours. There was more than 400 kilometres of stationary traffic in Madrid during Friday’s snow storm. The town of Guadalajara was completely cut off for a time.

The Spanish drivers associations speak of a lack of coordination in the response which they say was improvised at best. Friday’s storm hit hardest in Madrid, Castilla la Mancha and Cataluña.
On Saturday the snow headed South and East to Andalucia and Valencia.

In Almería there was upto 8 cms. of snow in the areas of Nacimiento y Campo de Tabernas, Valle del Almanzora and Los Vélez.
In Borreguiles in the Sierra Nevada, Granada, temperatures of -11 were recorded.
In the Axarquía village of Alcaucín in Málaga half a metre of snow fell, and an estimated 1,000 people in six villages in the area, including Canillas de Aceituno, were without power on Sunday. Locals say they have not seen such a snow fall for 50 years.

On Sunday night nine mountain passes remained closed to traffic in the north of the country and 13 secondary roads remained closed.

No more snow is forecast, but it will continue to be cold and rain will move across the country. The snow line will return to the normal 800/1000metre level and nighttime lows will be moderately higher.

Freezing conditions will continue Monday inland in the north, with showers possible in the area of the Strait and on the Balearic Islands where they could be moderate in the afternoon. Temperature are forecast to fall to -11 in Guadalajara and -13 in places in the Madrid Sierra.

Light showers possible along the coast in the South East, and rain entering from the North in Galicia later in the day. Morning mist also likely in the NE.