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Sierra Nevada
Just a few days before the start of October, the first snowflakes have fallen in Spain, on Europe's most southerly ski resort.

Summer is well and truly over in Spain, and winter sports fans are getting excited as the first snowflakes fall in one of the country's best ski resorts.

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The Sierra Nevada ski station in Granada, southern Spain, recorded its first snowfall on Monday and posted a series of videos and photographs, welcoming the wintery weather.
Breve vídeo grabado esta mañana en el corazón de #SierraNevada mientras nevaba #Monodenieve #Winteriscoming pic.twitter.com/Z8TloVbaZa

— Sierra Nevada (@websierranevada) September 28, 2015
The highest points of the ski resort - the most southerly in Europe and Spain's highest with peaks of 3,300m - were sprinkled with a fresh snowfall on Monday (see video above).

The mountain range, a favourite of skiers and snowboarders because of its proximity to the city of Granada, boasts 106 kilometres of pistes and usually opens during the last weekend of November or the first weekend of December, depending on the snowfall.

And far from lamenting the end of summer, Spaniards were excited at the news of the country's first snowfall of the year: the hashtag #SierraNevada was trending on Twitter as news of the wintery weather spread.
The high summits of #SierraNevada turned white #MonodeNieve on Are you ready for next season? http://t.co/TGJFAAHsgC pic.twitter.com/V9WT8L6yHM

— Sierra Nevada (@websierranevada) September 28, 2015
Lower altitudes in southern Spain were battered with hail storms on Monday, which destroyed 20,000 tonnes of grapes in the southeastern region of Murcia.

The grapes, from vineyards in the popular wine-making towns of Jumilla, Yecla and Abarán were destroyed by the hail storm, which swept across the region on Sunday according to newspaper La Verdad.