MADRID, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The mercury dipped to minus 34.1 degrees Celsius at Clot del Tuc de la Llanca in Aragon in the Spanish Pyrenees at 5:19 a.m. on Wednesday, the lowest ever temperature recorded on the Iberian Peninsula.

The previous record -- minus 32 degrees Celsius -- was recorded in 1956 in Estany Gento in the province of Lleida in northeastern Spain.

The State Meteorological Agency of Spain (AEMET) issued a special notice of adverse phenomena, according to which from Jan. 6 most of Spain will be hit by a bout of extremely cold weather, and some provinces will even see heavy snowfall of up to 30-50 centimeters.

The Madrid regional government will close access to the Sierra mountain range from Thursday onwards due to the large amounts of snow projected. Catalonia's Civil Protection Department has also activated an alert plan for the next three days.

A cold wave has hit large parts of the northern hemisphere in recent days. The temperature in Beijing, capital of China, reached minus 17 degrees Celsius on Jan. 6, making it the coldest day of the 21st century, according to the Beijing meteorological station.