Drivers who have a journey ahead of them, to set off on the road with cars prepared for winter conditions. The Road Infrastructure Agency (API) is appealing for this.
A yellow warning code for dangerous weather in southern Bulgaria and an orange warning code for northern and southeastern Bulgaria have been set for tomorrow. On the night of Saturday in the high mountainous parts of Western Bulgaria and the Pre-Balkans, the rain will change to snow. Forecasts call for significant amounts of rain and strong winds. Temperatures are expected to drop. There will be blizzard and icing conditions.
API calls on drivers to drive with caution and appropriate speed, keeping the necessary distance, not to make sudden maneuvers. The blocking of traffic by vehicles that are not prepared for winter conditions makes it difficult for all other drivers to travel and the work of snow removal equipment.
The regional road administrations are ready to take the necessary actions to treat the pavements in the high mountain areas and the passes, where there are prerequisites for slipperiness and icing on the weedy places. The goal is to start the preventive and then the snow removal activities as quickly as possible when the weather worsens, in order to ensure the passability of the roads.
The priority is the motorways, the busiest routes on the first-class and second-class road network and the passages providing the connections between Northern and Southern Bulgaria.
All citizens and transport companies can receive information about the current road situation and the winter maintenance of the republican network from the website of the API – www.api.bg, as well as at any time of the day by calling 0700 130 20 at the API. In the agency, a Situation Center operates year-round, 24 hours a day, which collects and summarizes the data on the state of the republic’s roads.
During the next 24 hours, it will be windy with a strong and stormy north-westerly wind, which will intensify to a hurricane in the night before Sunday in North-Eastern Bulgaria, the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH) announced. As the wind picks up, temperatures will drop. During the night, precipitation in the country will continue, in most areas it will be from rain, more significant in southern Bulgaria, and in the mountainous regions of western Bulgaria – from snow. The minimum temperatures will be between 1° and 6°, in Sofia – around 1°.
Tomorrow before noon there will be precipitation in southern and eastern Bulgaria, mainly from rain, on the high fields – from rain and snow. After noon, snow will also fall in North-Eastern Bulgaria, and in the night before Sunday in the South-Eastern regions. As the night gets colder, a thin layer of snow will form there for a short while. The maximum temperatures will be 3°-8°, in Sofia – about 3°.
