Large parts of Spain, including the capital city of Madrid were blanketed in white after Strom Filomena brought the heaviest snowfall in 50 years!

According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, “Between January 7–9, 2021, a moist, low-pressure weather system over the ocean collided with a cold air mass sitting over western Europe. The result was the heaviest snowfall over Spain in fifty years.”

In fact, this was the first time it snowed in Madrid in 61 years and many people took to the streets to enjoy the unexpected treat.

There were even reports of a snowball fight!

The unexpected snow left many in Spain flummoxed and people took to Twitter to share pictures and videos:

But it wasn’t all fun and games. Spanish emergency services have rescued as many as fifteen hundred people including hundreds of motorists who were either stuck or stranded because of the unexpected snow. Four people are reported to have died due to the snow. This include a homeless man in Zaragoza, a 54-year-old man found buried under a pile of snow in Madrid, and a man and a woman whose car was washed away by a flooded river near Fuengirola.

* Feature image courtest @voyageleisure via Twitter.