A white mantle for the Teide - The Province

The expected first snowfall of the year was made half-reality today with a thin layer of ice and snow water covering the summit of Tenerife. The Teide he was covered with a ephemeral white that at least it was enough for almost the entire day the two main access roads to the area remained closed to the risk of the presence of ice on the road.

"Above 2,500 meters, the wind is being very intense and combined with low temperatures," says the Head of Predictions of the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) in the Canary Islands, Jesús Agüera, who thus argues the images of the facilities of the Agency with the equipment covered in what is known as rime.

A minimum of 2.2 degrees below zero registered in Izaña and 0.6 degrees below zero in La Orotava during the early hours of yesterday morning, along with slight rainfall caused the roads to rise covered with ice, which led to the Cabildo de Tenerife to close both the TF24 of La Esperanza and the TF21 of La Orotava for the removal of the plates. Shortly after noon the insular institution announced the reopening of both routes.

And all this just on the day that marks 40 years since the largest snowfall recorded on the Teide, and that on January 18, 1979 reached three meters in the snow accumulated in the area after two days of precipitation . This is recalled by Jesús Agüera, who also clarifies that the current meteorological situation, produced by a "timely change", is quite different from that of this event.

To begin with, for the rains themselves, as the chief of Meteorology Predictions sums up, "in what we have been in winter, only a little water has fallen since yesterday".

In fact, the rainfall registered by the Agency for Tenerife barely reach 20 liters per square meter and also the situation will be maintained over the weekend? Under similar conditions. "We are in a moment of stability, with a probability of rain especially in mediocrities although weak and with similar temperatures, except for the maximum ones that did go down to 21 degrees ", advances the head of the Agency, before predicting that" the two very cold fronts that approach the rest of the country will not be felt in the Archipelago , not even a tail. "

"At least until Wednesday, the Canary Islands expect trade winds, a lot of humidity, weak rainfall and the same temperatures", adds Jesús Agüera who points out that in the case of Teide "the forecasts point to some precipitation in the form of snow water" .