It’s not just a feeling when you go out this morning: Winter has decided to enter through the front door at the beginning of this year 2026. After a few years of warmer patterns, the current atmospheric configuration has opened a direct corridor from the Arctic to the peninsula that has undoubtedly left many of us frozen.
The temperatures. Throughout all of Spain we have been able to see really low temperaturessuch as Madrid, which woke up today at -2 °C, but the capital is almost a thermal oasis compared to the rest of the country.
In Burgos, the wind has plummeted the thermal sensations down to -13 °C, and in the “proverbial” cold area of Molina de Aragón (Guadalajara), the thermometer has reached -14 °C. We are facing an episode of extreme cold that has put half of Spain on yellow, orange or even red alert.
What is happening. What we are experiencing is not an isolated event, but the result of a meteorological coincidence. The key is in an anticyclonic block located in northern Europe, which is a wall of high pressure that has forced air masses to circulate along its southern flank, channeling polar and continental air directly towards our latitudes.
to this The storm Francis has joined itwhich has left significant rainfall and snowfall throughout Spain. Its position has acted as a suction pump, facilitating the entry of this mass of arctic air and causing not only the collapse of thermometers, but also snowfall at unusually low levels.
A thermal ‘scooper’. The AEMET had to activate the red notice in the Parameras de Molina, a landmark that is not seen every winter. Some of the most notable temperatures that we have detected, for example, are the following:
- Molina de Aragón (Guadalajara): -14 °C.
- Burgos: wind chill of -13 °C due to the combination of frost and wind.
- Madrid (Retiro/Barajas): -2 °C, with minimums in the periphery, such as in Alcalá de Henares, dropping to -6.7 °C.
- Sierra Nevada: extreme minimums of up to -17 °C.
How long is it going to last? The truth is that the intense cold will continue throughout the day, as it did during the early hours of January 7th. This makes the red notices in Guadalajara and orange in the northern interior They will remain active until mid-morning.
But starting January 8, the Arctic air mass will begin to withdraw from the peninsula, making the weekend much milder than the previous one. In fact, forecasts indicate that by the weekend we could go from one extreme to the other, with temperatures 1 to 3 °C above average for this time of year. This will take us from ice to ‘almost hot’ in a matter of days with maximums of around 16 °C on Tuesday, January 13.
A new storm. Beyond the temperatures, we must keep in mind that between January 8 and 9, Storm Goretti will form, and that it will also experience explosive cyclogenesis, as the AEMET points out. Its impact will be mainly in the central European countries and in Spain its impact will be less, although it will temporarily generate maritime wind or rain in the north.
Images | AEMET
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