Thursday, 1 January 2026, 21:51
The early prediction of Aemet’s (national weather agency) automatic system has surprised the residents of Malaga province with a symbol that rarely appears in the Costa del Sol’s forecast: the snow icon, which people can now see when checking what the weather will be like in Malaga city, Marbella and Vélez next week.
The possibility of snowfall is still low. According to the early, automatic system, snow could fall at 200-300 metres of altitude in Malaga on 6 and 7 January. This means that this rare phenomenon could be witnessed in the foothills of Los Montes de Málaga, not far from the city centre, as well as in Sierra Blanca (Marbella) and in Sierra Tejeda and Almijara (the Axarquia district).
Since learning of this prediction, meteorology enthusiasts have flooded social media with all kinds of theories, although most of them are hesitant to believe such a possibility. The probability of precipitation on 6 and 7 January is 65% and 55%, respectively, at least for now. In addition, temperatures will not be low enough for snow to fall, unless it does so in the early hours of the morning. The forecast temperatures will be the coldest of the winter: a maximum of 11C and a minimum of 5C, which is still not low enough for the flakes to actually set.
Probability of snow stirs social media
Malaga meteorologist José Luis Escudero has warned weather enthusiasts that the possibility of snowfall has been forecast only by Aemet’s automatic system, which is not an official prediction by professionals. Moreover, there may be many changes in the coming days. “It is not clear whether the mass of arctic air coming to the country will reach the province,” he said.
Escudero is sure about one thing: even if snowflakes do fall at lower altitudes in the province, the situation will not be the same as the one in 1954: the last year when snow actually fell in Malaga city. At the end of January 2005, it snowed in Nerja, Motril, Calahonda, Almuñécar, Almerimar and Melilla. Every other time when people have seen white blankets at lower altitudes in the province, it has been due to hail, not snow (as happened in Rincón de la Victoria on 24 December).