Drivers who will be traveling today and in the coming days should set off prepared for winter conditions, warned the Road Infrastructure Agency (API).
The meteorologists' forecast is for snowfall in the mountainous regions, and in the regions of Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Sliven, Yambol, Haskovo and Kardzhali, the snow will turn into rain. There will be conditions for icing and slipperiness, and a yellow code for dangerous weather has been declared in these regions due to possible black ice, API announced.
Regional road departments are monitoring the weather forecasts and are ready to take the necessary actions to treat road surfaces. The goal is for preventive, and then snow-clearing activities to begin as quickly as possible in order to ensure road accessibility. The priorities are the motorways, the busiest routes on the first-class and second-class road network and the passes, providing the connections between Northern and Southern Bulgaria.
API points out that it is necessary for drivers to drive with increased caution and adjusted speed, keeping a distance, not making sudden maneuvers and not overtaking the specialized machines that are treating the road surfaces. Blocking traffic by vehicles that are not prepared for winter conditions makes it difficult for all other drivers to travel and for snow-clearing equipment to work.
Today, with the warming and the transfer of warm air from the south, there will be rainfall, said for BTA Chief Assistant Dr. Krasimir Stoev - meteorologist at the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH). This will be associated with a cyclone that is forming in the Mediterranean Sea. The precipitation will start as snow, but due to the entry of warm air, it will also turn into rain, especially in the Upper Thracian lowland, where there will be conditions for black ice tomorrow. Snow is expected in Sofia tomorrow, Stoev said.