The temperatures across Spain record record high levels for the month of December, as a warm air mass crosses the Iberian Peninsula today, raising the mercury near 30 degrees Celsius in the southern regions of the country, delaying the start of the snow season.

As the Northern Hemisphere prepares for the arrival of winter, Spaniards hope for a ‘white’ Christmas decrease after a summer with four heat waves amid the hottest year on record, part of the global warming widely attributed by scientists to human activity.

“It is one of the warmest air masses that have ever crossed Spain at such a level in December,” said Ruben del Campo, a spokesman for the national weather service AEMET.

He cited cities on the sunny Mediterranean coast, such as Valencia, which recorded temperatures of at least 27 degrees Celsius, two degrees higher than the previous record for the last month of the year.

Del Campo added that the unusual heat, combined with predictions of sparse rainfall until the end of February, portends a “not very good” season for winter sports that depend on plenty of snow.

High temperatures are likely to ease after Wednesday, with AEMET predicting that cooler air masses from higher latitudes will drop the mercury to more normal levels for the season.

At the popular Navacerrada ski resort outside Madrid, visitors are disappointed by the lack of snow.

“It’s a scary feeling because it really should be covered in snow or ice, but instead it’s green for this time of year,” Tanya, a 32-year-old hydrobiologist who gave only her first name, told Reuters.

Vithente Solsona, a 66-year-old retired university professor from the eastern province of Castellón, said Navacerrada should get at least one meter of snow this season.

“We are calmly destroying everything,” he stressed, saying “The problem is there is no going back.”