site.btaTemperature Records Broken across Bulgaria

Record high temperatures were reported across Bulgaria on Monday, exceeding 30C in some cases.

A temperature record of 32.5C was recorded in the northwestern city of Montana at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. This is the first time the measured temperature on April 1 has exceeded 32C since measurements have been taken in the city in the last 50 years, the director of the local meteorological station, Lenochka Angelova, told BTA. 

The reason for the unusually warm weather on Monday and in the last three days is the transport of warm air from the Sahara, which brings with it large amounts of dust, Angelova said. She commented that in recent years the Montana region has often experienced weather anomalies, with most cases of unusually warm weather in different seasons, but last year there was unusually cold and rainy weather in the spring and early summer. 

In January of this year, Montana recorded a temperature of 28.5C, while last June rainfall exceeded the monthly norms by about seven times. The average monthly temperature in Montana and the region in January, February and March of this year is expected to break the previous record from 2016, Angelova said. 

A maximum temperature of 30.2C in the shade was measured this afternoon in Ruse, on the Danube, which is a record for this date, the local weather station reported. 

So far, the warmest April 1 was in 1989, when thermometers recorded 28.1C. The lowest temperature measured on this date in Ruse was minus 0.3C back in 1995.

A temperature record was also registered on Monday in Vidin, on the Danube, the local weather observatory told BTA.

The measured temperature in the late afternoon of April 1 was 29.7C, breaking the previous record from 1989, when the temperature on this date was 28.6C.

Haskovo, South Bulgaria, set a temperature record for the third day in a row, with 30.4C measured on April 1, the local hydrometeorological observatory said.

The warmest April 1 on record was in 1947, when 29C recorded. Tuesday is also expected to remain unseasonably hot.

Temperature records in Haskovo region were also recorded over the weekend of March 30-31.

A temperature record of 30.2C was registered in the northeastern town of Shumen on Monday at 15:30, the local hydrometeorological observatory told BTA. 

The previous record was from 2016, when 27.5C were recorded on April 1. 

The northeastern town of Dobrich also recorded a record on Monday, when the highs reached 31C, the local weather station told BTA. This broke the previous record, which is from 1947 when the highs reached 28.7C.