Current snow level, 5-day forecast, main peaks and ski resort status in Iberian System. Highest peak: Moncayo (2314 m).
| Peak | Elevation | Lat/Lon | Status vs snow level |
|---|
The Iberian System runs from northern Burgos to southern Valencia, peaking at Moncayo (2314 m) and the Demanda range (San Lorenzo 2271 m, Urbion 2228 m). It is the most continental system in the peninsula: long, dry and very cold winters. The snow season runs December to March, peaking in January. Typical snow level is 1100 to 1500 m, kept low by cold temperatures even with low humidity; drops to 600-800 m are frequent in Demanda and Moncayo with northerly flow. Average snow depth exceeds 1 m on summits in February, with historical maxima of 2.5 m at Valdezcaray. Avalanche risk is generally low, but westerly wind forms dangerous slabs on the east face of Moncayo, where fatal accidents have been recorded. The only active ski resort is Valdezcaray, at 1545-2125 m. Others have operated intermittently. The system is the watershed between the Ebro and Duero rivers, so snowmelt feeds strategic reservoirs. The snow level rises southward: in Javalambre-Gudar (Teruel) two stations operate at 1700-2000 m, where snow depends more on the cierzo wind than Atlantic storms.
The Iberian System is inland and dry, far from either sea, and that is where its particularity lies: it snows less than in the Cantabrian range but is much colder, so what falls lasts. Moncayo, Urbión and the Demanda pass 2,000 metres and hold snow on shaded slopes into spring, with temperature inversions that leave the valleys colder than the summits.
Between December and March the 0 °C isotherm over the Iberian System sits on average at 1,829 metres. With the summit at 2,262 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 109 days each winter, below 1,500 on about 77, and reaches 1,000 metres or less on 35.
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 Iberian System went from 1,860 metres in 1995-2004 to 1,888 metres in 2015-2024. The rise is small, 28 metres, but it points the same way as everywhere else.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iberian System | 1,636 | 1,759 | 2,131 | 2,483 | 3,042 | 3,728 | 4,154 | 4,172 | 3,554 | 2,985 | 2,124 | 1,782 |
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 Iberian System 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 1,396 metres.
Two caveats worth keeping in mind. The first is that ERA5 smooths the mountain: its cell represents 1,396 metres where the real summit reaches 2,262, 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.
