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The storm Filomena washed away the roads, especially in the center of the country, and the snow in the capital, Madrid, has been falling since 1971.
The interior minister told reporters on Saturday that the disaster had already claimed at least three lives.
“Although the number of incidents is relatively small, despite extremely difficult weather conditions, we still lost three people,” Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told a press conference.
Madrid’s Barajas airport was closed on Friday night and hundreds of cars got stuck on the roads.
The meteorological agency AEMET described the situation as “exceptional and probably historical.”
Another 20 centimeters of snow is expected to fall on the plains of Madrid and central Spain on Saturday, and up to 50 centimeters above sea level at higher altitudes.
“It has been a difficult day, but tomorrow it will be even more difficult,” said the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, in a video on Friday shortly before midnight.
Snow in Spain
In a statement Saturday, he described the situation as “extremely serious” and urged people to stay home.
When it stopped snowing overnight, public transportation and garbage collection stopped.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also asked on Twitter that people stay inside and follow the instructions of the emergency services.
The Madrid Emergency Agency said it had worked through the night to help stranded drivers and free 1,000 vehicles. The service asked those who had not yet received help to be patient.
The snow disrupted nearly 400 roads, transport officials and Renfe’s rail network said, and high-speed trains between Madrid and Valencia were canceled.
Madrid’s famous Puerta del Sol has become a place of winter entertainment, with skiers skiing and even sledding with five dogs.
Snow in Spain
In addition to Madrid, the regions of Aragon, Valencia, Castilla-La Mancha and Catalonia were the most affected by the snow storms.
The historic city of Toledo has asked the military for help to clear the streets, as has Albacete in the southeast, public television reported.
Forecasters say heavy snowfall will continue until Sunday, when Storm Filomena moves northeast, though the temperature will remain exceptionally low.
When it began to snow on Thursday morning, the temperature in the Pyrenees ski resort on Wednesday had already dropped to the lowest temperature ever recorded here, minus 34.1 degrees Celsius.
Filomena brought heavy rains and strong winds to the Canary Islands, as well as the southern coast of Spain.
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