A walk in the countryside can give you the most gratifying encounters, be that the visual beauty of the landscape, the temperaments of the weather, some unexpected wildlife, some unusual botanical display, a majestic rainbow or a dramatic cloud formation.

Over the last few days, such encounters would more likely have been related to the antics of autumnal weather that we have had here, recently. There were hailstorms in Mallorca this week. There was another gota fría. There were heavily gushing winds and there was a sudden drop in temperature by as much as 8° C. Now we are even told that there might be snow today in the higher reaches of the Tramuntana mountain range.

Yes. Mallorca, and indeed most of Spain, has been put on a storm warning of the Level Orange alert category for today and tomorrow. 40 Spanish provinces are predicted to suffer high winds, rain, snow and high coastal waves. 32 provinces are graded as Level Yellow areas (riesgo), whilst 8 provinces share with the Islas Baleares the Level Orange warning (riesgo importante), according to the Spanish weather authorities Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET).

If there really will be snow today in Mallorca, this would be quite early in the year for us. Mind you, the Serra de Tramuntana had snow as early as October 30th, a year ago. The Stratocumulus clouds that I witnessed yesterday certainly looked threatening. Nothing came down from them where I was, though, nothing but cinco gotas. But you never know.

The photo was taken near Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: November 7th, 2009. The time was 16:18:18.