Arctic Air Surge Brings Severe Cold and Snowfall to Pyrenees

A potent incursion of Arctic air reached its peak intensity on Friday, November 21, 2025, bringing profoundly frigid conditions and significant snowfall across the Pyrenees mountain range. This abrupt climatic shift followed a period of unsettled weather and heavy rain across the Iberian Peninsula, which had been impacted by systems such as Storm Claudia in the preceding days. The arrival of this polar mass marked a notable swing from the unseasonably warm mid-November weather experienced in many parts of Europe.

During the height of the Arctic intrusion, maximum temperatures at the Pyrenees' highest elevations, specifically near the 2,500-meter mark, struggled to rise above -13°C to -14°C. This level of cold has reportedly not been observed in the Pyrenees since February 2023. The resulting snow, characterized as powdery and very dry, is beneficial for the ski sector, allowing resorts like Baqueira Beret to prepare for a planned early opening on the last weekend of November.

Compounding the low temperatures, gale-force winds exceeded 100 km/h in exposed locations such as Ulldeter and Portbou, creating severe wind chill factors across the high Pyrenees and the northern Alt Empordà region through Saturday midday. This pattern of strong winds and cold air was part of a broader European event where a strong blocking High over the North Atlantic and Greenland weakened the warmer zonal flow, permitting the Arctic air mass a direct southward path into Western Europe. Fresh snowfall accumulated between 8 and 15 centimeters across the medium and high elevations, with localized deposits surpassing 20 to 30 centimeters above 2,400 meters.

The Spanish state meteorological agency, Aemet, had issued orange alerts for heavy snowfall in northern regions, including the Basque Country, Cantabria, and Asturias, with the snow line forecast to descend as low as 500 meters in some areas. This early season snow represented one of the earliest widespread winter episodes for both the Pyrenees and the Sistema Central. The primary Arctic event concluded as the main snowfall subsided on Saturday, giving way to a transition on Sunday as a warm Atlantic front moved in.

This meteorological shift caused precipitation to resume in the Pyrenees, though the snow line ascended significantly, rising above 1,500 meters, signaling the retreat of the polar air. Subsequently, milder westerly winds propelled maximum temperatures toward 20°C across the southern Iberian Peninsula. This rapid transition underscores the volatility of the autumn climate, moving from recent Saharan air influences to a deep polar blast. The Pyrenean Climate Change Observatory (OPCC) has previously noted that the massif is warming 30% faster than the global average, making preventive measures against extreme hydroclimatic events a priority.