27/02/2005 00:00
TW
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News Desk THE cold weather has not only lasted a long time in Majorca but it has got worse, and this February has been described as one of the coldest since 1983, according to Agustí Jansà, Director of the Balearic Met Office. “This February may even turn out to be the coldest since further back than 1983, depending on the temperatures in the next few days. For example, the average temperature in February in Palma-Portopí is 10 degrees. In 1983 this was 9.9 degrees - there is not much in it. It is likely that the average temperature will be lower than 1983 when we have calculated the total month”, added Jansà.

It will be more difficult to beat the coldest temperatures that were recorded in February 1981, when the average temperatures for the month were 9.8 degrees in Portopí and 3.8 degrees in Lluc. However, temperatures have slightly increased in the past two days and there was only one area with below zero temperatures, Alfàbia (-1.6 degrees).

In Lluc temperatures reached 2.5 degrees and the rest of the island experienced temperatures between 6 and 8 degrees. But, the maximum temperatures in Majorca are still lower than normal (around 9 degrees during the day).

In terms of snow, only regions higher than 700 metres had snowfall, and it is forecasted that snow will today only affect those higher than 600 metres.
However, there is worse yet to come.
It is predicted that tomorrow and Tuesday snow will fall in all regions higher than 200 metres. During these days, there will also be a lot of rain and for this reason it is likely that there will be more snow in Majorca.

There has been a lot of rainfall in the Balearic Islands in the last several months in comparison with other Spanish regions. Since September 2004, the Balearic Islands have had the same amount of rainfall as northern Spain, Cantabria and the Pryenees.

There has been more surface humidity in the Balearic Islands since September than other regions in Spain, again the islands fall on a par with northern Spain. Also some parts of Valencia and central Spain experienced similar levels to the Balearic Islands and northern Spain regarding surface humidity.