in the south of Spain

On the one hand, the image of a Sierra Nevada piste (Spain) before the four meters of snow next to the Laguna chairlift. On the other hand, skiers Vail Mountain (United States) descending on brown slopes in the scarce 11% that is open. One winter, two completely different images.

The snowiest season in Europe. It is mid-March 2026 and, against all odds, the snowiest snow season in Europe is in the province of Granada. Furthermore, according to its own data, Sierra Nevada would be the fourth in the world only behind Mt. Baker in the US and two Japanese stations.

And yes, the thicknesses of 400 cm in the Veleta sector are an impressive figure, but it is much more so if we take into account that the US is going through the worst snow drought in more than 30 years and the Alps have very low thicknesses.

What happened in Sierra Nevada? It has been the eighth wettest winter since 1961. In fact, according to the Nevasport rankingthree of the ten ski resorts with the most snow in the world are on the peninsula (Sierra Nevada, Ordino Arcalís and Candanchú). The Catalan stations that manages FGC They have just been living the best time in the last 10 years.

The Granada case is more interesting because it is less common. The station is so far south that it is only viable due to its altitude. On this occasion, the weakness of the Azores Anticyclone has allowed storms to move much further south than usual. But it has done it in an unusual way, the truth is: January has historically been the month rainiest in the last 25 years.

But is there so much snow in Granada? The 400 cm figure is not an average for the season, or anything like that: it is the amount accumulated in a specific area. One of the big problems of this season is that snow levels drop very quickly as the temperature drops. The same Nevasport users commented that on the Río track, the lowest, the stones are already emerging.

What it says about the future of snow. In recent years, we have been very concerned about the future of snow in Spain. Quite systematically, snow accumulations have been reducing in recent decades and this affects the future of the seasons. This year’s data, I fear, does not change this fear much.

It is possible that the rains are here to stay and the changes associated with global warming turn Andalusia into an orchard and the Baetics into the new Alps, but in the meantime… we better prepare for what happens again.

Image | Yeray Sanchez

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