国际英语新闻：30 provinces on alert as bad weather hits Spain

MADRID, March 8 (Xinhua) -- A heavy snowfall hit Barcelona Monday as 30 provinces were put on alert ahead of another bout of wind rain and snow.

Snow fell at sea level in Barcelona as the Autonomous Community of Catalonia bore the brunt of the bad weather with over 60 roads affected.

Further south snow was falling at 400 meters altitude in Valencia region and the main motorway north out of Madrid towards Burgos, the N1, was also closed because of the weather.

In the far south of Spain, the region of Andalusia was placed on yellow alert because of high winds and waves in coastal regions, while it was raining heavily in the provinces of Granada, Almeria and Cadiz.

Those areas were badly affected by rain on Saturday with firemen called out to make over 250 rescues because of rising waters.

Central areas of Spain such as Castilla la Mancha, Castilla- Leon and Navarra are also expecting to receive at least five centimeters of snow, while the Basque city of Bilbao, which traditionally enjoys a mild climate, woke up to a blanket of snow on Monday morning.

The cold snap is even going to affect the holiday island of Mallorca where it will snow in areas above 600 meters.