AEMet, the Meteorological State Agency has issued an Orange Alert for Mallorca for today for all coastal areas and Yellow Alert for the island itself. Temperatures are expected to drop to 0° C overall and -5° C in parts of the Serra de Tramuntana mountains. Snow is forecast today in the mountains and possibly at sea level as well. A 25 km stretch of road has been closed as a precaution on the Pollença to Andratx road, namely between Coll de Sa Batalla and the Mirador de Ses Barques.

Schools are not affected at the moment the way they are in nearby Catalunya where 260,000 pupils were prevented from taking classes yesterday, due to heavy snowfalls. In Palma, some schools have been suffering from unheated classrooms for the last two months, though, due to budgetary cuts with the heating being cut off. I have friends at the Institut Ramon Llull in the Avingudas who may well decide that today, low classroom temperatures are just unbearable.

The cold snap of Siberian proportions in the Spanish mainland and in most of Europe is expected to last until next Wednesday. You better get your woollies out.

The photo was taken in Es Molinar, Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: January 28th, 2012. The time was 14:55:16.