Romanians woke up to winter on Monday morning with the first snowfall of the season in the capital at the start of a two-day holiday.
Snow also fell in the Danube counties of Teleorman, Giurgiu, Calaraşi and Ialomita along the border with Bulgaria and farther east toward the Black Sea including Braila, Constanta and Tulcea, at the end of the Danube’s seven-country journey.
The snow is expected to settle, and winds will gust up to 45-kilometers an hour toward evening in Dobogrea, the country’s windiest region, meteorologists said.
In recent years, winters have been much milder in Romania with the first snowfall arriving as late as the beginning of February.
But Monday’s snowfall looked to be more than a simple flurry. Forecasters predicted moderate snow for the southern Muntenia region and Dobrogea in the southeast between 5 am and 8 pm.
Romanians celebrate St. Andrews’s Day who is the country’s patron saint on Monday. Anyone whose name derives from Andrew_ such as Andreea or Andrei_ celebrates a name day, like a second birthday.
Romania celebrates its national day on Tuesday, marking 102 years since the creation of a modern-day state. Transylvania reunified with the rest of Romania at the end of WWI as the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed.
Some snowfall is expected in the southern region of Oltenia, west of Munteania and in southern Moldova.
Forecasters said colder than usual temperatures for this time of year are expected this week.
