Surely you imagined it but you confirmed it: Barcelona has entered fully into winter these last days. The cold you felt was not your imagination, and the city has recorded one of the coldest days in recent times, with a maximum temperature that has barely reached 6.7 ºC at the Observatori Fabra.
To find similar temperatures you have to go back 22 months, when on February 27, 2023 Collserola was briefly and lightly covered with snow and its thermometer dropped to 5.6ºC.
The minimum temperature has also fallen: 3.6ºC, one of the lowest of the year after the 2.5ºC reached on March 3, 2024, although still far from February 2023, when the thermometer dropped to -1.4ºC after a nighttime snowfall.
Snow arrives on Montrserrat
The cold has not come alone, the overcast sky and intermittent rain have contributed to an even colder feeling during these days. This Thursday the city has dawned with those same showers that have been splashing the city all week.
The snow level has dropped to 900 meters, thus reaching some points of the coast or the highest areas of the mountain of Montserrat, just half an hour from Barcelona, which have been noticeably covered with snow.
The cold has reached Tibidabo in the afternoon, when sleet has fallen on the mountain of Barcelona, staining the mountain of the city with a white haze.
How long will this cold last?
Despite the freezing cold these days, temperatures will tend to recover for the weekend. Thursday will still be a gray day, with heavy showers and even some thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening and just 1 or 2 degrees higher than in the previous days.
After a Thursday of very heavy rains in Barcelona, on Friday the city has dawned clear. Temperatures are still cool, but the clouds have subsided and the sky shows little cloudiness.
However, on Thursday the rains were for the memory, since it is the third rainiest day of the XXI century. Up to 30 liters accumulated per cubic meter, only surpassed by three dates: December 26, 2008 (34.5 l.) and the abundant rain of December 4, 2019, where 100 liters per cubic meter fell.
At the weekend, the arrival of an anticyclone seems to promise clearer skies and a somewhat more pleasant atmosphere. For the same reason, it seems that the week before Christmas will be milder, although some weather maps point out that the cold could return just for the days of the holidays, adding to the Christmas atmosphere.