Spain enters the “Scandinavian blockade” and that causes a radical change starting December 23

Something is happening in Scandinavia and that something is going to affect us directly. It’s already affecting us. Because, as I write, a huge anticyclonic blockade over the Nordic countries is channeling polar (continental) air towards southern Europe.

Specifically towards us.

What is a lock atmospheric? We speak of blocking when the “normal” flow of west-east winds is interrupted and the jet becomes more wavy (it has variations from north to south). This slows down the typical advance of storms and sends them to areas with little traffic.

In Europe, to be specificwe speak of “Scandinavian blocking” when a mass of high pressure in the north of the continent reorganizes the storms and favors cold weather towards mid-latitudes.

What translated it turns out: a complicated week. At least in Spain and the Balearic Islands, where low pressures in a context of cold inflows and episodes of stability can end up generating many problems.

We talk about yellow warnings for rain in the entire northwest half and snow levels approaching 700 meters in many areas of the country (and 1,200 in the south)

Why is this important? I mean, we’re in winter, right? Yes, it’s true: but we are also on Christmas Eve, one of the busiest times of the year. Snow at medium levels and, above all, frost increase exponentially the probability of incidents on roads, ports and mountain passes.

That is to say, we do not need a “new Filomena” for the country to turn upside down and accidents to skyrocket.

And all this without talking about the associated problems. Indeed. On the one hand, a pattern of low maximums tends to put pressure on electricity and heating demand (with very intense peaks and the possible risks involved). On the other hand, agriculture will suffer damage and the cold will be a terrible factor because it will help the flu epidemic keep wreaking havoc.

The debate now is on the impact. That is, the usual debate. For the first time in many years, we are not going to have a warm Christmas and that, we already know, is going to cause problems. The issue is how many problems and to what extent we will be able to get them right.

Image | ECMWF

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