Winter arrived in the Balkans during the weekend, with heavy snow and gales bringing down power lines and disrupting road traffic across most of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Many roads in the Dinaric Alps, the mountain range running along the eastern side of the Adriatic, were completely closed by snow.
The wintry weather moved in from northeast Europe, dragged around the flank of a low pressure system which dominated the central Mediterranean. Classic conditions for the development of the Bora wind, a local wind of the Adriatic region. This blows from the east across the Dinaric Alps, funnelling through the valleys to bring a rapid drop in temperature and gusty conditions to the Adriatic coast. Dubrovnik experienced the full force of the Bora during Sunday evening, going from a calm and balmy 14 Celsius to a piercing 6 degrees and full gale within a few hours, the winds gusting as high as 70mph.
The same weather system also encouraged development of strong Mistral winds through the Rhone valley in France. The city of Orange recorded wind speeds of 70mph and this was enough to disrupt some of the TGV high-speed train services.
Staying with the wintry theme, you may not think of Texas as an area prone to snow, but a winter storm spun south from the Rockies to bring a few inches to Amarillo over the weekend. Conditions were difficult on the roads for a time, but relatively high ground temperatures meant that the snow was short-lived.
Heavy rain in northern Colombia has lasted much longer, however and a state of emergency has been declared in eight states. Areas bordering the Caribbean have been worst affected, including the historic walled city of Cartagena. At least 18 people have been killed and many thousands of homes damaged. This year’s rainy season has been the most damaging in years and the rains normally continue until mid-December.
