STA, February 25, 2018 – Slovenia is bracing for the coldest spell this winter. Like much of Europe in the grips of a polar vortex, temperatures will drop below -10 degrees Celsius in the mornings and remain below the freezing point during the day until Thursday. Real feel will be even colder due to wind chill.

Temperatures will even fall below zero on the coast, where people are used to temperatures between 5 and 10 degrees this time of the year.

Wednesday will be the coldest, as morning lows will drop as low as -15, while daytime highs will not exceed -6. Temperatures as low as these were last recorded in January 2017.

Considerable wind chill is expected already for today, as the northeasterly is expected to reach about 50 km/h, while daytime highs will remain below -5. It will feel even colder in Primorska, where bora will reach up to 120 km/h in gusts.

Similar conditions will persist tomorrow. Tuesday will be cloudier but the cold will persist. Temperatures are expected to drop as low as -25 in the morning on Wednesday, but luckily the wind is expected to abate by then.

It is slightly unusual that such a cold spell is coming so late in the season but also that there has not been one at all so far this winter, according to Blaž Šter of the Environmental Agency.

Cold spells this late in February happen only a few times in a century in Slovenia. They are more frequent in late January and early February, which is traditionally the coldest part of the year.

The lowest temperature measured in Slovenia was -34.5 in mid-February 1956 and mid-January 1968 at Babno Polje. Unofficial measurements at Lepa Komna in the Julian Alps recorded -49 in early January 2009.