A rare sight of a snow covered Spain where temperatures fell to -25C this week
Credit: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The heavy snowfall that hit Spain a few days ago still lies heavy across much of the country as this Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite image shows.
While the idea of snuggling under a blanket in the cold winter months is very appealing, the blanket that covers half of Spain is not remotely comforting. This satellite image, captured on 12 January at 11:40 CET, shows how much of the country is still facing hazardous conditions following the snow that fell at the weekend – the heaviest snowfall the country has had in five decades.
Storm Filomena hit Spain over the weekend, covering a large part of the country in thick snow. Madrid one of the worst affected areas , was brought to a standstill with the airport having to be closed, trains canceled, and roads blocked.
Captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission on January 11, 2021, at 12:14 CET, this image of Madrid in Spain appears to have been taken in black and white. In fact, it is a true-color image – but the heaviest snowfall in 50 years has blanketed the region, turning the landscape white.
People in central Spain are struggling as a deep freeze follows the heavy snow. Yesterday, the temperature plunged to –25°C in Molina de Aragón and Teruel, in mountains east of Madrid – Spain’s coldest night for at least 20 years.
Copernicus Sentinel-3 is a two-satellite mission. Each satellite carries a suite of cutting-edge instruments to measure systematically Earth’s oceans, land, ice, and atmosphere to monitor and understand large-scale global dynamics. For example, with a swath width of 1270 km, the ocean and land color instrument, which acquired the two tiles for this image, provides global coverage every two days.
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