Overview
- The polar outbreak that brought the season’s first widespread snow peaked on Friday and is now weakening, with lower elevations transitioning to rain.
- Forecasts raise the snowline from about 500 meters on Friday to 700–800 meters overnight and above 1,500 meters on Saturday afternoon, confining new snow to higher terrain.
- Regional updates still cite closures and chain requirements on several Basque and Navarre passes, and some rural roads in Montaña Alavesa remain uncleared after volunteer tractor crews refused to operate without insurance.
- Spain’s Transport Ministry activated its winter plan with 541 snowplows and over 110,000 tonnes of de-icers, as the Basque Government kept its viability plan in monitoring status.
- Urban services held up: Vitoria’s buses ran normally and 42 additional shelter beds were opened, while AEMET and Euskalmet point to an incoming Atlantic front with rain and coastal winds, including a yellow wind advisory for Bizkaia on Monday.