Region blanketed by snow, cold snap to continue

Region blanketed by snow, cold snap to continue

Snow helped by strong winds blanketed most of the Western Balkans, with air temperatures dropping to below freezing and getting colder by the hour on Monday.

The cold weather is set to continue the next few days, according to forecasters.

The coldest temperature this morning was recorded on Bosnia-Herzegovina's (BiH) Olympic mountain Bjelasnica, where the temperature dipped 18 degrees Celsius below zero, Banja Luka-based daily Nezavisne Novine reported.

According to the BiH Federal Institute for Hydrometeorology, temperatures could drop to minus 20 degrees in Sarajevo on New Year's Eve.

Heavy snowfall and cold days are continuing in Croatia, and Makarska Riviera, part of the country's Adriatic Sea coast, saw winds blowing persistently at 90 kilometers per hour to 90 km/h and gusting to 160 km per hour, as was measured at the Osejava weather station.

Six young men from Makarska have been snow-trapped in a mountain lodge in the area of Vosac on the Biokovo mountain since yesterday, and a team of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service (CMRS) went there to help them this morning.

A strong northeast wind that has been blowing in Herceg Novi, a coastal town in Montenegro, since last night, "blew" a local ferry aground on the coast this morning.

The Institute of Hydrometeorology and Seismology of Montenegro said light snowfall is possible in some areas, especially in the north of the country, where there will be strong winds, and occasional storms.

Slovenia is no warmer than other parts of the region, and forecasters say even colder days and more wind-caused difficulties are ahead.