Again this year, Mallorca will be hit by snowfall. This time the situation is extraordinary. Heavy rainfall and strong winds also cause problems for people. There are even landslides in the island's capital, Palma.
Thick layers of snow on the holiday island of Mallorca and icy temperatures of up to minus 16 degrees inland: The storm "Juliette" put Spain back in the depths of winter on Tuesday. In some places in northern Mallorca, the snow cover has grown to more than one meter within 24 hours, said a spokesman for the national weather agency Aemet. He spoke of "extraordinary" snowfall.
The Balearic Islands, known for their mild climate and popular with European tourists, are particularly affected by the onset of winter. According to Aemet, heavy rainfall and strong gusts of wind, which reached speeds of 117 kilometers per hour, were also recorded on the largest island of Mallorca. It is believed that the heavy rains are also the cause of several landslides in the island's capital, Palma de Mallorca.
"It's a bit bad, chaos, because people aren't used to it," one man describes the situation on the island to ntv. Heavy rainfall is common in Mallorca in autumn and winter - heavy snowfall, on the other hand, is rather rare. This year there was already a white blanket of snow on Mallorca at the end of January.
Islanders also have particular memories of February 2012. At that time, the whole island was even covered by a dense blanket of snow, not just the mountains. The temperatures fell to minus 5.7 degrees, all of Europe was suffering from an icy cold at this time. There had not been such low temperatures on Mallorca since 1972.
According to experts, short-term individual weather events do not necessarily provide conclusions about climate changes. Longer measurement periods must be taken into account for this. The German Weather Service (DWD) explains the difference between weather and climate on its website: Weather refers to an event at a specific location at a specific time. The term climate, on the other hand, means the entirety of weather phenomena over a longer period of time.
