Current snow level, 5-day forecast, main peaks and ski resort status in Sierra de Cazorla. Highest peak: Cabanas (2107 m).
| Peak | Elevation | Lat/Lon | Status vs snow level |
|---|
Sierra de Cazorla, together with Segura and Las Villas, forms the largest protected natural area in Spain (over 200000 ha) and the highest Sub-Baetic range after Sierra Nevada. Peaks rise above 2000 m (Cabanas 2107 m, Empanadas 2106 m, Banderillas 1993 m). The snow season runs December to March, with typical snow level 1300-1700 m. Heaviest snowfalls come with cold easterly winds picking up Mediterranean moisture, leaving over 100 mm in 24 hours; the most remembered episode was January 2017 with 1.2 m accumulated. Average snow depth on summits is 40-80 cm in midwinter. No active ski resorts; ski touring and snowshoeing routes to El Yelmo and Banderillas are popular. Avalanche risk is low. Snow feeds the source of the Guadalquivir and Segura rivers, two of Spains most strategic rivers, and shapes microclimates supporting exceptional biodiversity: Iberian lynx, reintroduced bearded vulture, pinsapo fir in shaded slopes, and the endemic Cazorla violet. The Natural Park has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1983.
Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas form the largest massif in Andalusia and act as the great water catchment of southern Spain: the Guadalquivir rises here. The snow is seasonal and not especially abundant, but it counts for more than it appears, because its melt feeds the reservoirs of the upper Guadalquivir through the spring.
Between December and March the 0 °C isotherm over the Sierra de Cazorla sits on average at 2,034 metres. With the summit at 2,107 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 38.
In the coldest episode of the 30-year series, on 12 January 2003, 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 Sierra de Cazorla went from 2,089 metres in 1995-2004 to 2,074 metres in 2015-2024. Here the level has fallen 15 metres, against the general current.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sierra de Cazorla | 1,785 | 2,005 | 2,417 | 2,834 | 3,481 | 4,276 | 4,877 | 4,827 | 4,081 | 3,339 | 2,363 | 1,922 |
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 Sierra de Cazorla 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 880 metres.
Two caveats worth keeping in mind. The first is that ERA5 smooths the mountain: its cell represents 880 metres where the real summit reaches 2,107, 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.
