Bulgaria Remains in Grip of Polar Cold

Bulgaria remains under code orange Wednesday over extremely low temperatures. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

All, but one, Bulgarian regions remain under code orange over extremely low temperatures, the National Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) has announced.

Code orange means intense weather situations with potential damage, injuries and casualties.

A more moderate code yellow has been declared only for the region of Burgas. Code yellow means potentially dangerous weather, where the forecast is not for unusual meteorological events, but requires people to exercise caution.

The temperatures in Bulgaria fell to record lows once again Wednesday morning.

The mercury went down again the most in Knezha, in northwestern Bulgaria, where it registered minus 29 degrees Celsius at 5 am. Another 12 locations recorded records as well, with temperatures below 20 or near this mark – Chirpan (-25), Plovdiv (-24), Dragoman (-23), Pazardzhik (-21.6) etc.; in Sofia around 5 am the thermometers showed minus 20.

On Tuesday, minus 32 degrees were registered in the village of Glavanovtsi in western Bulgaria, but this cannot be listed as official record since it was measured with an ordinary household thermometer.

454 schools around the country were closed over the polar cold, according to Tuesday data of the Health Ministry with the most closed schools reported in the regions of Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin and Dobrich.

The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday is for the polar cold spell to continue with the extremely dangerous combination of cold, snow, and wind. People are advised to stay home if possible. Those who have to go out should wear layers, gloves, and hats. Drivers should avoid travel, unless there is an emergency.

The mercury will start climbing up Friday by 4-5 degrees. However, new snow is expected to arrive Thursday in western Bulgaria. In eastern Bulgaria, the precipitations will be in the form of rain.

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