Barcelona can be characterised by its warm, Mediterranean climate. It has hot summers and mild winters, but despite this traditional climate, climate change is taking care of other, not so common weather in winter. It is not that strange anymore to have a little snow in the Catalan capital during the coldest months of the year.
And although it doesn’t snow every year in Barcelona, other parts of the province are better known for its winter wonderland atmosphere.
If you plan on staying in tourist accommodation this winter and want to know whether to bring warm clothes, this article by ShBarcelona will tell you more about snow in the city and province of Barcelona.
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Table of Contents
Discover snow in Barcelona’s winters
Important snowfall in the history of Barcelona
Photo by Oh-Barcelona via Visualhunt
January 14 and 15, 1914. During these two days more than 20 centimetres of snow fell in the city of Barcelona. It was the first and biggest snowfall of the 20th century, and it really took people by surprise back then.
December 24, 25 and 26, 1962. On Christmas Eve 1962 Barcelona was covered under a nice blanket of snow. We still call it the snow of the century. Snow began falling during the traditional Midnight Mass, and on Christmas morning Barcelona woke up to almost half a metre of snow. Understandably this caused many traffic problems, but they also discovered that some of the roofs couldn’t carry that much weight.
November 21, 1999. This was the last snowfall of the 20th century, and strangely enough it fell right in the middle of autumn. Airport El Prat wasn’t able to handle this unexpected event, and up until this day there has not been a more peculiar snowfall than this one.
March 8, 2010. On this day Barcelona experienced its biggest snowfall after 1962. During the day the whole capital got covered in white. In the zona alta (upper parts of the city) snow was thicker, but even the coastlines were white. As you can imagine, many people loved sending postcards of the snow-covered beaches of Barceloneta.
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Snow in the province
Photo by AlenSan via Visualhunt
The first location with snow in winter is in the Berguedà region, in the northernmost part of Barcelona’s province. This region is located on the slopes of the Pyrenean mountain range, and it is one of the coldest areas, and therefore it is normal to experience snow here during the winter months.
Another location to see snow in Barcelona is the Parque Natural del Montseny, and this park is located both in the province of Barcelona and in the province of Girona. When winter is really cold, there is snow on the highest mountain peaks in the park, and on a clear winter day, you can even see the snow in Montseny from the Catalan capital.
Although it is less likely, you can sometimes see snow on Montserrat, which is located in the Bages region, in the province of Barcelona. This mountain range is now known as the sacred mountain in Catalan culture. Only really cold winters can take care of a few snowflakes falling on the top of this mountain, which is just 720 meters above sea level.
*Main photo by toniher via Visualhunt
Have you seen Barcelona when it snows? Did you like it?
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