Winter

It might be the perfect time to take out the woolen clothes, snow boots and thick winter coats as Turkey is bracing for blizzards and freezing temperatures, according to meteorologists.

A new cold wave from the Balkans and Black Sea will hit Turkey starting on Jan. 5, meteorologists have said, and icy conditions will prevail in the western parts of the country.

Bosnia's mountain ski resorts at Jahorina, Bjelasnica and Vlasic are having a good season as a result of the large number of visitors who have come to spend New Year's Eve there and enjoy the thick snow.

After last year's poor snowfall in the winter season left tourist operators struggling, heavy snow at the end of December this year has brought joy to skiiers and hoteliers.

The 2014-2015 skiing season officially opens in Predeal on the Clabucet ski slope on Saturday, the city's mayor, Liviu Cocos, told AGERPRES.

Unlike Christmas, when the weather in Bulgaria will be warm and sunny, on December 29, the winter will remind of itself, according to Petar Yankov of TV-MET.

On December 29 through the country will pass a cold front, which will bring heavy snowfall. The situation will be most serious in northern and north eastern Bulgaria, where the high winds will pile the snow on high drifts.

The snowflakes glide gracefully down to the silence of the forests. As we depart from Bolu Mountains, I feel a bit deprived of the alpine spirit, not having been able to hit the slopes. The ski slopes look pathetically unpromising in snow quality; the sun is shining; it is almost spring-like; but they are spraying water up into the air just above the slopes to fall like snow.

This winter in Bulgaria would be milder than usual, meteorologist Ivailo Slavov told Nova TV, refuting forecasts that temperatures will drop to -40°C.

Ice is a symbol of mankind’s age-old passion to challenge the climate. Harvesting coolness from winter to refresh oneself on hot summer days was itself a challenge and strenuous work. The recent ALS awareness campaign “Ice Bucket Challenge” may have hit that nerve in people, their craze about ice.