Last week's anticyclone was a mirage. After an exceptionally rainy winter, this first week of March, and of meteorological spring, has brought another turn for the worse, and a severe one at that. A pocket of cold air located between the south of the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa has generated a new low-pressure system, named... Regina by the Portuguese meteorological agency. Initially, it will affect the Canary Islands and the Gulf of Cádiz area, and in our region, for the time being, it will bring clouds, a lot of suspended dust, some showers or drizzles accompanied by mud, maritime winds, and rough seas.

Heavy rain, snow, and strong gusts of wind have been reported in several parts of the country. The weather change this Saturday has been intense and very rapid, generated by a low-pressure system with very cold air aloft associated with the storm. IngridLocated on the Atlantic coast, Catalonia has experienced heavy and intense snowfall above 600 meters, beginning in the morning in the west and gradually easing throughout the afternoon. The forecast for tonight is for the storm to move eastward, bringing heavy showers, particularly to the Alt Empordà region. This Saturday, snow has been prevalent in the Segarra, Solsonès, Berguedà, Cerdanya, Ripollès, Bages, Alta Anoia, Moianès, and Selva regions, with notable accumulations such as 15 centimeters in Vilallonga de Ter and 10 centimeters in Sant Llorenç de Ter. Snow has also been seen near the coast and, in fact, has dusted the summit of Tibidabo, near Barcelona, ​​at an altitude of around 500 meters. Social media has begun to fill with videos and images from users who have witnessed the snow, which is unusual at such low elevations.

The AP-7 motorway between Martorell and Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, southbound, will be closed for "a few days" due to the risk of the retaining wall that collapsed onto the road. R4 train It could end up giving way completely. Early this morning, the Catalan Traffic Service (Servei Català de Trànsit) had already closed 1.5 kilometers of the right lane towards Tarragona as a precaution, but due to the instability of the terrain, the closure was extended to all three lanes on this road that crosses Catalonia from north to south. However, the measure has had consequences for the mobility of many users. Specifically, the A-2, the road to which much of the traffic that usually uses the AP-7 is being redirected, has accumulated up to 18 kilometers of traffic jams between Cornellà de Llobregat and Martorell in the direction of Barcelona due to the closure, according to the Catalan Traffic Service (SCT).

Firefighters' rescue teams located the body of a man on Tuesday night who, pending identification, could be the Fontanilles resident, around sixty years old, who was swept away with his car in the morning in the Palau-sator stream (Baix Empordà) due to the storm HarryWhile the river is usually dry, the town's mayor, Jordi Riembau, noted that on Tuesday it carried "five or six meters of water" after being collected from the Les Gavarres massif. The 112 emergency service received the alert at 7:30 a.m., at the same time that Civil Protection sent the ES-Alert message to mobile phones in four districts of Girona: Alt Empordà, Baix Empordà, La Selva, and Gironès. Throughout the day, ground teams searched for the man, but had to suspend the water search because conditions were unsafe in the area where the Ter and Daró rivers meet. Air teams (a helicopter and drones) continued the search with the support of some ground personnel. Once the river level in the stream receded, the roof of the vehicle became visible, and firefighters located it.

2026 has started strong in terms of weather, and the coming days will be no exception. After a few calm and pleasant days, the situation will become quite complicated again towards the end of the week. The arrival of a mass of cold air of polar origin associated with an Atlantic low-pressure system and the formation of a new low-pressure system in our Mediterranean region will cause significant instability starting on Friday. We can expect gray and rainy days, and this episode could last until Tuesday. The weather maps even suggest a sudden increase in wind speed or a herring storm at the beginning of next week. This storm could bring significant amounts of rain to some areas, another significant snowfall in the mid and high elevations of the Pyrenees, strong winds, and rough seas. Meteocat has already issued a weather warning for Sunday through Tuesday due to accumulations of more than 100 liters per square meter in just 24 hours along the coast, pre-coastal areas, and the eastern half of the country, as well as for rough seas, as announced on social media by the agency's director, Sarai Sarroca.