Current snow level, 5-day forecast, main peaks and ski resort status in Sierra Nevada. Highest peak: Mulhacen (3479 m).
| Peak | Elevation | Lat/Lon | Status vs snow level |
|---|
Sierra Nevada is the highest Baetic massif and, along with the Pyrenees, the only one preserving snow almost year-round on Mulhacen (3479 m), Veleta (3398 m) and Alcazaba (3371 m). The useful snow season runs December to May, peaking in February. The snow level is high due to latitude (1800-2400 m), but deep Atlantic storms can lower it to 1200 m, exceptionally to 800 m (recent record: March 2018, 700 m in the Alpujarra). Snow depths at Pradollano (2100 m) exceed 4 m in March in heavy years; the average approaches 1.5 m. Avalanche risk is significant in March and April after windy snowfall, especially in north and northeast facing gullies (Veredon, San Juan). The Pradollano ski resort typically operates December to late April or early May, being the southernmost in continental Europe and often the last to close each season. The snowpack stores water feeding the Genil river, supplying the Granada vega and extending streamflow to July. Climate change has caused the retreat of the perennial snowfields of the Corral del Veleta, considered remains of the peninsula last glacier. The National Park preserves endemic species such as the Sierra Nevada violet that depend on the snow cover.
Sierra Nevada is an anomaly: 3,479 metres, 40 kilometres from the Mediterranean and at the latitude of Tunis. That altitude offsets the latitude and sustains the southernmost ski resort in Europe, but the balance is fragile. The snow level here is high almost always, and what saves the season are Atlantic depressions coming in from the southwest and unloading on the massif with the air already cold aloft.
Between December and March the 0 °C isotherm over Sierra Nevada sits on average at 2,328 metres. With the summit at 3,479 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 95 days each winter, below 1,500 on about 48, and reaches 1,000 metres or less on 13.
In the coldest episode of the 30-year series, on 10 January 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 Sierra Nevada went from 2,347 metres in 1995-2004 to 2,419 metres in 2015-2024. That is 72 metres of rise, moderate but sustained.
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 Nevada | 2,098 | 2,300 | 2,660 | 3,047 | 3,659 | 4,428 | 4,991 | 4,931 | 4,195 | 3,529 | 2,659 | 2,251 |
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 Sierra Nevada 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 1,353 metres.
Two caveats worth keeping in mind. The first is that ERA5 smooths the mountain: its cell represents 1,353 metres where the real summit reaches 3,479, 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.
