Romania hit by snow and blizzard

Schools have been closed and travel disrupted as snow, blizzard and frost hit Romania.

Leyla Cheamil, 26.02.2018, 13:35

After a mild winter with spring-time
temperatures, the end of February has brought frost, snowfalls and blizzard all
across Romania. According to the National
Meteorology Administration, from Monday until Thursday, half of Romania will be
under a code orange alert for frost. The alert is valid for the east, south and
southeast of the country, for the Eastern Carpathians and the Southeastern
Carpathian range. Meteorologists say that such weather phenomena are unusual
for this time of the year and temperatures are expected to be 10-15 degrees C
lower than normal. Maximums will range between minus 12 and minus 8 degrees C
and minimum temperatures will drop to between minus 22 and minus 12 degrees C.
According to weather experts, the strong gusts of wind will make people feel
much colder.

A code yellow alert for cold weather has been
issued for the region of Transylvania, in central Romania. It’s worth
mentioning that the lowest temperature ever recorded in Romania dates back to
January 1942, in the village of Bod, Brasov county, when thermometers read
minus 38.5 degrees C. A code orange alert for heavy snowfall and blizzard was
also issued on Monday for several counties in the south and southwest where it
will snow heavily and winds will reach speeds of 45 up to 55 km per hour. The
alert is also valid for Tuesday and snowfalls will gradually cover all the
regions of the country.

The authorities in the regions with bad weather
alerts in place are prepared to warn and protect the population. A first
measure was to close down schools and kindergartens on Monday and Tuesday, in
Bucharest and several counties in the south and southeast of the country.
Classes were also suspended at the National School of Political and
Administrative Studies in Bucharest and at the Stefan cel Mare University in
Suceava, on Monday and Tuesday, given the bad weather alerts and the problems of
the city’s centralised heating system.

Traffic on national roads is normal for the
winter period but rail traffic has been disrupted. The National Railway
Authority has cancelled tens of trains in the south of the country due to bad
weather. Also, the Railway Authority announced they would reduce the number of
trains on certain routes to allow for intervention with snow removal equipment.
Trains arrived in and left Bucharest’s North Station with big delays, of
hundreds of minutes. The Black Sea ports have been closed due to strong winds.