19 January, 2017

By VIVA Team

The beach at Murcia received a light dusting of snow this week. Picture: The Local

The beach at Murcia, on the Costa Cálida, received a light dusting of snow this week. Picture: The Local

Those 320 days of sunshine per year are locked into the legend of the Costa del Sol: almost a whole year of wall-to-wall sunny days when the beauty of the region is augmented by the dazzling shine afforded by that burning ball of energy in the sky…

But those of a more inquisitive nature will undoubtedly ask, when told about those sunny 320 days: “What about the remaining 45?” Well, to this there is no easy answer. It would be misleading to say that the depths of winter on the coast are equally bright, but just a bit fresher – the clouds do come in, and settle on the shoulders of normally sunny resorts sometimes.

Weather in southern Spain can be unpredictable in winter, save for a couple of certainties: two or three heavy deluges, a run of surprisingly warm weather, and an occasionally biting wind whipping in off the sea.

But snow? No, snow is extremely rare. There will be the odd dusting of powder atop the mountains behind the resorts of the Costa del Sol some Januaries, but snow has not fallen on the ground in and around Málaga for many decades.

But could that change this year, perhaps? Spain is currently shivering through its coldest weather for more than 35 years, with the mercury plunging to -15ºC in the Pyrenees mountain range this week. Sure, the Pyrenees are very far from southern Spain, but even places as south as Murcia and Alicante saw snow fall this week, with Ceuta – the Spanish enclave on the North African coast south of Marbella – forecast for snowfall for the first time since 1993.

The sight of the normally sandy, sunny beaches of Torrevieja and Orihuela dusted in snow this week is quite a sight to behold, but for many it simply adds to the region’s allure – a place where the weather is normally clement and inviting, but with the occasional opportunity to surprise… and even if you don’t like the snow, it’s only a few weeks until the warmer air and longer days of March arrive!