Current snow level, 5-day forecast, main peaks and ski resort status in Cantabrian Mountains. Highest peak: Torre Cerredo (2648 m).
| Peak | Elevation | Lat/Lon | Status vs snow level |
|---|
The Cantabrian Mountains stretch over 400 km between Galicia and the Pyrenees, forming the northern barrier of the peninsula. They are among the snowiest and wettest ranges in Spain, with annual precipitation maxima above 2000 mm on the northern slope. The snow season runs November to April, peaking in January and February. Typical snow level is 700 to 1200 m with Atlantic storms, occasionally dropping to sea level during polar outbreaks; the last coastal snow episode was February 2018 (Asturias). Average snowpack on summits exceeds 1.5 m in February, with historical maxima close to 4 m at Brana Cabal (Somiedo). Avalanche risk is moderate to high in Picos de Europa, Somiedo, Riano and Saja-Besaya. Three ski resorts operate: Pajares (Asturias-Leon), San Isidro and Fuentes de Invierno, all at 1500-2150 m. Snow feeds the main rivers of both slopes and supplies strategic reservoirs such as Riano. It is the range with most Cantabrian brown bears (over 350) and the last refuge of the Cantabrian capercaillie.
The Cantabrian range is lower than the Pyrenees but much closer to the sea, and that proximity decides almost everything: Atlantic depressions arrive here without having shed their load anywhere first. The result is heavy snowfall at low levels when a northerly comes in, and rain all the way to the summits when the flow turns southerly. Passes such as Pajares and San Isidro close several times each winter for exactly that reason.
Between December and March the 0 °C isotherm over the Cantabrian Mountains sits on average at 1,779 metres. With the summit at 2,648 metres, the summit sits above the snow level for practically the whole winter. Further down things change fast: the level drops below 2,000 metres on about 112 days each winter, below 1,500 on about 83, and reaches 1,000 metres or less on 37.
In the coldest episode of the 30-year series, on 20 December 2009, the air was so cold that the 0 °C isotherm sat at sea level: in theory it was snowing from the coast upwards.
It is the underlying question in any range with a ski resort, and the series answers it. The mean winter snow level over the Cantabrian Mountains went from 1,804 metres in 1995-2004 to 1,817 metres in 2015-2024. The level has barely moved, which is uncommon in the Spanish series.
The month with the lowest level is January. The curve rising towards summer says how long the season really lasts here.
| Mean level (m) | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cantabrian Mts. | 1,597 | 1,724 | 2,063 | 2,338 | 2,801 | 3,372 | 3,695 | 3,723 | 3,316 | 2,797 | 2,042 | 1,724 |
The snow level is the height at which the temperature crosses 0 °C. Here it comes from ERA5, the reanalysis produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, downloaded from the Copernicus Climate Data Store under a CC-BY licence: hourly temperature over the Cantabrian Mountains between 1995-01-01 and 2024-12-06, 30 complete years, extrapolated with the standard lapse rate of 6.5 °C per kilometre from the height of the model cell, which here is 1,106 metres.
Two caveats worth keeping in mind. The first is that ERA5 smooths the mountain: its cell represents 1,106 metres where the real summit reaches 2,648, so it describes the air mass well but not the specific terrain. The second is that what is computed is the 0 °C isotherm, which is the theoretical ceiling: snow usually starts to settle 200 to 300 metres below it, because the first flakes cool the air as they melt and pull the real level down. For going into the mountains, AEMET’s official forecast always takes precedence.
