Visibility

Cloudy skies over the country today, fog in the plains and valleys. Light rain is expected in some places. Visibility will improve for some time in the afternoon. There will be light to moderate wind from east-northeast.

Today there will be low clouds or fog along the river valleys, in the lowlands and in Eastern Bulgaria. In the afternoon, the visibility will improve for some time and the clouds will break. Over Western and Central Bulgaria, there will be considerable high cloudiness during most of the day. Light to moderate wind from east-northeast.

Air pollution is slowly easing in EU countries but still causes nearly half a million early deaths each year, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in its annual report published Monday, reports AFP. 

Although pollution levels dropped slightly in 2015, they remain far higher than standards set by both the European Union and the World Health Organization, the report said.

Exposure to air pollution may impede cognitive ability as people become older, with less-educated men the worst affected, a new study has found.

"Most existing research on air pollution focuses on its health effects," study author Xiaobo Zhang told Euronews. "Our study shows a persistent negative effect on cognitive health, which not been widely discussed."

Swaths of Greece have been shrouded in haze as persistent southerly winds have carried waves of dust from the African continent across the Mediterranean.

Two of the city stations today are expected increase in the levels of fine particulate matter in the air. 

This is reported by Sofia Municipality. It is recommended to use public transport, while walking on large city boulevards. For heating if possible using electric appliances  or other ecological way.

On January 28, Sofia citizens will be traveling by public transport with a special "green ticket" for BGN 1, the Sofia Municipality announced. It is valid all day for all lines.

The reason is the dirty air in the city - today the levels of fine particles are high, shows the interactive map that measures air pollution in real time.

The level of fine particulate matter in the air of Sofia is again above the norm.

In Bulgaria 78% of people are exposed to dirty air, while their average share in the EU is 19%. This is what the data showed from the last annual report on the air conditions in Bulgaria of the Executive Environmental Agency (EEA) and from European comparisons of this indicator made by the European Environment Agency to the European Commission, quoted by "Dnevnik" .

In the last hours air pollution in Sofia with fine particles has reached 6 times above the norms, according to data from the National Automated System for Control of Ambient Air Quality. Highest values ​​are recorded in "Nadezhda" and "Hipodrome" at 21-22 hours last night in "Mladost".