During the initial days of January, harsh cold and snowy showers lashed Italy and the Balkan Peninsula. More extreme cold conditions are likely amid this week.
Storms moving eastward into the Balkan Peninsula from the central Mediterranean Sea are expected to avert severe weather from building across the region. But these powerful storms itself will give heavy rain and snow over the areas.
Most of central and southern parts of Italy will observe rain and thundershowers during the mid-week, meanwhile higher reaches will witness heavy snowfall.
These conditions will make travel difficult over the higher reaches of central Italy with about 39 inches of snow falling over the north-central Apennines. The wet and heavy snow will also result in power outages.
Rain is expected over the lower elevations of Adriatic Coast and Greece across the Balkan Peninsula. Snow will fall mostly over the interior parts.
Locations that will be most at risk of disruptive travel snow include Zagreb in Croatia, Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Skopje in Macedonia and Sofia and Plovdiv in Bulgaria.
While not as heavy snowfall will occur as expected in the mountains of Italy, widespread of about 3-6 inches will fall across the interior of the southern Balkans through Thursday. Up to over 8 inches will fall over Northern Greece, southern parts of Albania and Bulgaria.
A second storm is likely to bring unsettled weather to Italy and the Balkans from this weekend into early next week.
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