Sofia, half of Bulgaria face ‘code orange’ dangerous winter weather warning on January 24
Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia and several other regions of the country were subject to a “Code Orange” dangerous weather warning for January 24 as temperatures were expected to scrape lows of minus 15 to minus 20 degrees Celsius for a second consecutive day.
The forecast for Sofia for January 24 was for a minimum temperature of minus 17 and a maximum five, for Plovdiv from minus 15 to zero, for Varna from minus nine to a high of one degree and for Bourgas, a low of minus seven to a high of one degree.
Weather forecasters said that the day would be mostly sunny, with fog or low clouds along the Danube in the morning. Weather in the mountains also would be mostly sunny and no snow was forecast.
The regions covered by the “Code Orange” weather warning for Sunday are Gabrovo, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pernik, Pleven, Razgrad, Rousse, Shoumen, Silistra, Sofia – both the city and the region – Turgovishte, Veliko Turnovo, Vidin and Vratsa. All other regions of the country were subject to the lesser “Code Yellow” potentially hazardous weather warning.
On January 23, the weekend opened with the lowest temperatures in the country at Knezha, a town in Pleven region in northern Bulgaria, at minus 21 degrees Celsius. In Sofia and Vidin, thermometers showed a low of minus 17 degrees. Bulgaria’s highest peak, Mount Mussala, measured minus 23 degrees Celsius.
On Saturday, the Bulgarian Red Cross’s Mountain Rescue Service said that the danger of avalanches in the mountains remained and urged people to avoid areas outside of cleared areas, repeating that the pistes at ski resorts were not exposed to avalanche danger.
(Photo: (c) Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
