Snow in Ibiza
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Normally the only snow to be found on Ibiza is a problem for the drug enforcement agency and if the countryside is decked in white, it is usually an ocean of flowers. Real snow is something that children here have only ever experienced on their television screens, apart from the occasional few snowflakes that have melted before they reach the ground.
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On January 26 th last, this all changed when Ibiza woke up to a blanket of snow for the first time in almost 20 years, whilst temperatures fell to almost -5 degrees Celsius. The temperatures measured at the airport were the lowest since 1965. The winter wonderland caused enormous excitement on the island as children made snowballs for the first time in their lives and watched fascinated as ex-pats from northern Europe built snowmen on the beaches. The daily papers published pages of reader's photos for weeks on end.
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How did it happen? Far above us in the atmosphere the islands were 'trapped' between three weather fronts. One was a giant high-pressure system over the North Atlantic that brought lots of moisture and extremely cold air over France and to the Mediterranean . The second was a small high-pressure area over the Iberian peninsula and the third was a low pressure system above southern Italy . The high-pressure system over Iberia was turning clockwise, the low-pressure system anticlockwise. The Balearic Islands found themselves directly between the two and this created a pull that directed the cold northern air masses directly over Barcelona and the islands. The Italian low pressure delivered even more moisture to the area. That is how the snow clouds were able to dump their contents over Ibiza .
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The result was a winter wonderland on Ibiza . The snow didn't settle for long, lasting only for a few hours, because the sun is just too strong at these latitudes. By afternoon most of the white splendour had melted away almost as quickly as it had appeared. But the memory will last for a lifetime.
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