Snow in january 2020
2020-02-06 (IPMA)
Snow in january 2020 | Serra da Estrela
On January 23, 2020 there was a snowfall event in Serra da Estrela, that allowed the mountain to be covered with the largest snow cover of the present autumn/winter season. The snow started to fall at dawn and lasted until the end of the day. There was also snowfall at night from January 24th to 25th, but with substantially smaller amounts.
This episode caused snow thickness amounts of around 50 cm in the Torre region (at 1990 m) and 25 cm in the region of the Snow Cleaning Center (at 1650 m). In the previous days, snowfall had already occurred in the Torre region, but without causing significant accumulation in the soil. The episode of January 23 was the one with the greatest accumulation of snow in the present autumn/winter season, with IPMA issuing a snow warning of orange level for the regions above 1200 m in the districts of Guarda and Castelo Branco. That warning has already been issued according to the change in criteria that took effect on December 9, 2019 - in which the orange level corresponds, between 1000 and 1600 m, to a snow thickness of 11 to 30 cm and, above 1600 m, to a thickness of 26 to 50 cm (see news below).
As the photo indicates, the snow amount was still considerable at an altitude of 1900 m on 28 January. However, the snow amount had been decreasing since the 26th, with snow practically disappearing in Serra da Estrela at the end of January, due to the temperature increase that was happened after the snow episode.
It should also be noted that snowfall also occurred in the mountainous areas of Madeira Island on the night of 20 to 21 January 2020, typically above 1500 m, and that the episode that affected the region of Palmela in the south of Portugal on the morning of 20 January 2020, initially considered to be snow, was actually an episode of graupel (see news below).
The snow depth information in Serra da Estrela results from the activities of the Joint Protection and Relief System in Serra da Estrela (PONSE), which is the responsibility of the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC), with the information made available by the National Republican Guard (GNR) and Infrastructures of Portugal (IP), which are part of the System, in which IPMA is also involved (see news below).
See also:
Imagens associadas
Picture from snow in Serra da Estrela - 28 january 2020
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