Bulgaria’s winter weather crisis: Sea at Bourgas freezes, Danube still iced over
The sea at Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea Bourgas port and the Sarafovo fishing harbour froze on January 12, while shipping on the Bulgarian-Romanian section of the Danube continued to be prohibited because of widespread ice floes.
The rare phenomenon at Bourgas port and the Sarafovo fishing harbour was possible because of low salinity in the water.
Elsewhere on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, Varna lake froze.
January 12 saw a sunrise temperature of minus 23 degrees Celsius in Knezha, a town in northern Bulgaria. Most of the temperatures in the country were below zero in the early morning.
In northern Bulgaria, snow cover was between 23 and 45cm and in southern Bulgaria, between 13 and 41cm.
For January 13, Bulgaria faced no hazardous weather warnings. Weather forecasts said that in Sofia, the day would begin with a low of minus nine, rising to one degree. Plovdiv would have a minimum temperature of minus nine, rising to one degree, Varna, a minimum minus five, rising to six degrees, and Bourgas, minus six, rising to five degrees.
Schools are to remain closed in 10 Bulgarian regions on January 13: Bourgas, Dobrich, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Rousse, Silistra, Turgovishte, Stara Zagora, Yambol and Shoumen.
Classes resumed on January 12 in Sofia, Gabrovo, Veliko Turnovo and Vidin, though in the Bulgarian capital city, a handful of schools remained closed because of low temperatures in classrooms.
(Photo via BNT)
/Panorama
