Iztok Sinjur

Yes it is. This winter is much better then last one. In December, when we were up there too, the snow height existed 2,5 to 3m. We have a lot of work around our stations, because snow covered all stations. Some photos from our 2 days long axpedition December 19.-20.2008 Stevenson screen was 2m above the ground.... Sunset

Well, this news is very "hot" in Slovenia. On our coleague, who was there in yesterday morning, is employed in the national met service. So, our measurements are unofficial in this frost hollow, but very near we have a standard Stevenson screen (you can see it in one photo). There was Tmin -39,7.

Well, after two "warm" winters with lowest temperatures in our Alpine frost hollows around -35, Yesterday our station recorded NEW UNOFFICIAL RECORD LOW IN SLOVENIA! The lowest temperature from January 25, 2006 was -41,7, but yesterday in January 9, 2009 classical alcohol minimum thermometer in frost hollow Mrzla Komna recorded -49,0 C!! This was measured by the group of frost hollow researchers of the Slovenian meteorological forum. Some photos from yesterday http://picasaweb.google.si/matejblatnik/Ko...eraturniRekord# or here http://freeapproved.com/2009/01/09/sibirski-mraz-na-komni/ Some news from the last winters http://www.freewebs.com/iztokico/

Ljubljana got the new January record in max.temperature. It is windy (foehn) with clear sky and very low humidiy; 21% It was +15,5°C at 11:30UTC. This is the highest January T in the last 140 years! Some temperatures in Slo: http://www.arso.gov.si/podro~cja/vreme_in_...i/vreme_si.html

After unusually warm autumn and very mild December, January started with the same temperatures and dry weather. Snow cover in the mountains isn't deep (at 1500 a.s.l. ~10-30 cm) and conditions for nocturnal cooling was not very good , but temperatures in the sinkholes reached -30°C a few times. Here is a graph from December 11 to 12. You can see what does it mean nightime cooling in the sinkhole and outside of it (on the plateau). Unfortunatly conditions around midnight became worse. First daylight from the sinkhole Mrzla Komna (December 27,2006). It was only -24°C Sinkhole Planina Govnjač early in the morning (Dec. 26).

In a little bit higher places started snowing this morning. We have the first snow cover in some low land parts too - eaven in my town at 340m a.s.l. started snowing arround midday. Unfortunatly precipitations intensity is low, but in spite of that arround 10-15 cm of fresh snow is expected in the mountains. Good for first skiing. Current weather on Rogla (1495m a.s.l.) (Pohorje muntains) [url="http://www.rogla.si/cgi-bin/cms.cgi?doc=15133&sid=rNmwxrcN73QO3Qcc"/url]

Some latest temperatures data and photos from sinkholes Velika Padežnica (1127 m) and Vala (1114 m) you can see at my web page In spite of record warm autumn Tmin from October 10 to December 9 reached -16°C.

Thank you for comment about flowering. I didn't know species name of this shrub , but Viburnums in Slovenia usually (our autochthon species are Viburnum lantana and Viburnum opulus) don't flower at this time . It is the first time to see flowering that shrub in December. Usually we have snow and Tmin arround -5 to -10°C, so stagnation of vegetation prevail because of low temperatures (hormonal stagnation ended in the last days). I have another photos Prunus laurocerasus Centaurea montana

Record warm first decade of December in Slovenia. Average day temperatures ware eaven more than 10K over normal. Source: http://www.arso.gov.si/podro~cja/vreme_in_...je/zanimivosti/ Because of that, many plats begining to flower. After cold front passage temperatures turn to more normal now. Mountains at about 1700m has 30-70 cm fresh snow. We have low cloudiness and arround +7°C.

Warm and dry weather is still prevailing! It seems that we are still in October because average day temperatures range between +6 and +10°C. November was around 4°C over average! More details about November this year and in the last year are on my site My Webpage This autumn was something special. In many meteorological stations reached record values. This graph present average autumn temperatures in Ljubljana. Source: http://www.arso.gov.si/podro~cja/vreme_in_...je/zanimivosti/ Autumn precipitation amount existed only about 1/2 of normals. This years total is almost the same like in 2003. On the highest Slovenian meteo. station Kredarica (2515m) registering first days without of snow in December until now. Because of high averages and many sunny hours some plants form flowers and eaven preparing for burst into leaf In the last few days a big part of central and western Slovenia had a low cloudiness. Its upper level was between 900 and 1300m a.s. In spite of all that in the sinkholes temperatures reach quite low values Here is one graph for sinkhole on the Pokljuka alpine plateau (~1300m a.s.l.)

Well, we are in the second part of November but the weather is still very mild and averages are unusual. September and October was warmer than in average and the first half of November almost normal (but this is because of lower morning temperatures). Precipitation amount until now this autumn is very low and we can talk about one of the driest autumn ever. Special conditions are in the mountains where September and October was warmer than August! Here are some charts about October average day temperatures deviation from average 1961-90 http://www.arso.gov.si/podro~cja/vreme_in_...je/zanimivosti/ You shoud pay attention on Kredarica station - it is at 2515m a.s.l. Channel near my town is without of water almost two weeks.

After the warm and sunny October (average month T was ~2 to 3°C over normal - look my web site), November start with cold and first snow cover in some parts. Cold air mass in higher levels came just over the night. Temperature at 2500m a.s.l. dropped from +7 to -15°C in less than one day. A few days before that my colleague on Kredarica meteorological station (2515m) measured very strong foehn- NW wind. Max. gust was over 170 km/h! Photo: J. Ortar In November 3 after local snow showers some parts in Gorenjska, Koroška and Štajerska region get the first day with snow cover this winter. Morning temperatures were quite low. The lowest temperature on my station was -6,2 °C (November 3). In some cold parts where cold air pool form frequently temperatures reached -17 °C.

We have the first frost this autumn. After a clear and calm night temperatures in many parts reached 0°C or lower -> http://www.arso.gov.si/podro~cja/vreme_in_.../vreme_avt.html First decade of October was sunny, warm and dry - average temperature was around +14 to +15°C which is a few degrees too high.

September 2006 was unusually warm and sunny in Slovenia! Average temperature in some parts was eaven the same as in August. It existed about +16 or +17 °C (in lower parts). I recorded 1,2 K higher daily Tmax than in August (+23,4°C) in my town. The highest temperature was +29 °C, which is higher then in August too. We had only 5 days with rain - total precipitation amount 96 mm (65% of average). In the mountains the September was significantly warmer than August - Kredarica observatory (2515m a.s.l.). Average temperature was 3 °C higher!

We are in autumn now and weather in the mountains was the same a few days ago. We were on the Komna plateau during Friday and Saturday(September 22, 23) This is view to Krošnja sinkhole (1450 m a.s.l.) leaf with pearls This is the lowest temperatures between August 19 and September 23. Tmin in °C (September 11,2006) Krošnja -9,9 Luknja-8 Mrzla Komna -9,8 Pl.Poljanica -9,4 Pl.Govnjač -9,4 Pl.Ovčarija -6,6