A warm first half of the year expected in Croatia.
The cold weather hit Croatia quite recently with snow falling in the north of the country. Zagreb looked spectacular ”in white” and temperatures were bitter for the vast majority, if not all of us. While many of us are still feeling the wrath of winter, hope is on the horizon on January 23, 2016, as Zoran Vakula, a meteorologist for HRT announced the imminent arrival of considerably warmer temperatures in the days, weeks and months to come. He claims that despite this unusual level of warmth for this time of year, the atmosphere will not be a stable one and it will be difficult to predict what exactly will occur.
The next few days are expected to be below zero in the early morning, but then the temperatures are set to rise. At the end of the month, the climatological rating is expected to be classed as normal, with many areas of the country even being ”warm”. The rather dramatic increase in temperature that is predicted to arrive in the coming days will hopefully confirm this expectation.
The last week of January is expected to be ”far above average” according to various Croatian and European meteorological institutions, with the highest air temperature reaching approximately 10° C within the interior of the country. It is anticipated that this will go on at least into the first week of February. Therefore, the latest monthly forecast confirms this prediction which will be calculated once per month for the next six months. We are told that these higher temperatures are a positive deviation from previous forecasts, bringing with it the highest average air temperature recorded in the last century. This is expected to go on until July, but it is difficult to be exact.
It may be too bold to say that this entire year will be significantly warmer than average, especially given the incredible (and oppressive) heat 2015 gave us, but when we look at the predictions of most of the worlds experts in the field of climatology such as the World Meteorological Organisation, and with the presence of El Nino, it isn’t surprising nor is it controversial.
Maybe even us on the coast will soon be ditching our coats!
