The forecast: Snowy Christmas and freezing cold New Year's Eve

Christmas week begins with two days of cloudy and foggy weather, without precipitation. Mornings will see reduced visibility. The clouds will break up on Monday around and after noon in southwestern Bulgaria, and on Tuesday in the Danube Plain. Daytime temperatures on both days will be between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius.

On Christmas Eve precipitation will begin – rain in the lowlands and snow in the mountains of western and parts of central Bulgaria. With colder air moving in overnight and on Christmas Day the rain will turn to snow in western and central areas. On December the 26th precipitation from north to south will be limited to the mountains, with a tendency to stop.

Preliminary forecasts from some meteorological models predict snow cover of 5-10 cm in the plains, up to 20 cm in the foothills, and around 50 cm in the higher mountain ranges of the Rila-Rhodope massif.

In the days around New Year's Eve the probability of significant precipitation is low. The outlook is for a cold front to pass through with local snow showers. More significant precipitation is possible at the beginning of next year, between January 2 and 5.