The climate in Bulgaria

Climate zone: Moderate zone of the northern hemisphere

The climate in Bulgaria is quite varied, but generally does not offer extreme climate conditions. It is cold and wet with some nice summer months. A beach holiday can also be enjoyed in the warmer season, but water temperatures will not reach much more than 23 °C. The warmest and at the same time rainiest planning region is Central-South / Plovdiv. The coldest is Southwest / Sofia. Due to the warmer temperatures, the best time for traveling is from June to September. Less attractive are the cold months from November to March.

Temperature records of the last 63 years

The hottest temperature measured from 1960 to January 2023 was reported by the Kurdjali weather station. In August 2021, the record temperature of 40.2 °C was reported here. The hottest summer from July to September, based on all 5 weather stations in Bulgaria below 590 meters altitude, was recorded in 2012 with an average temperature of 23.5 °C. This average temperature will normally be measured every four to six hours, thus also including the nights. Normally, this value is 21.4 degrees Celsius. The average maximum daily temperature at that time was 30.8 °C.

The coldest day in these 63 years was reported by the Varna weather station. Here the temperature dropped to -16.4 °C in January 2006. Varna lies at an altitude of 43 meters above sea level. The coldest winter (January to March) was in 1963 with an average temperature of -0.5 °C. In Bulgaria, it is usual to have about 4.0 degrees more at 3.5 °C for this three-month period.

The most precipitation fell in June 1966. With 10.0 mm per day, the Lom weather station recorded the highest monthly average of the last 63 years.

Long-term development of temperatures from 1999 - 2022

In contrast to single record values, long-term development cannot simply be brought about by all weather stations in the country. Both the number and the locations are constantly changing. An average value would give a distorted result. If several measuring stations in particularly cold mountain or coastal regions are added in one year, the average would decrease as a result of this alone. If a station fails during the summer or winter months, it does not provide any values and distorts the average again. The subsequent long-term development was therefore reduced to only 3 measuring points in order to have comparable data over as long a period as possible.

In the years 1999 to 2022, there were only these 3 weather stations in the whole country, which reported continuous temperature values (Varna, Vidin, Kurdjali). From these weather reports, we have created a long-term development that shows the monthly average temperatures. The hottest month in this entire period was July 2012 at 26.2 °C. January 2017 was the coldest month with an average temperature of -3.0 °C.

The average annual temperature was about 12.5 °C in the years after 1999 and about 13.3 °C in the last years before 2022. So in less than 24 years, it has increased by about 0.7 °C. This trend only applies to the selected 3 weather stations in Bulgaria. A considerably more comprehensive evaluation of global warming has been provided separately.

Data basis and methodology

The data from the individual measuring stations are based on the archives of the German Weather Service, individual values averaged and supplemented by own elements. In order to determine a representative national average, average values were first calculated for each part of the country, which were then summarized at the national level. Thus, if a disproportionate number of weather stations are located in a small area, their number does not affect the national average. There are 6 stations in Bulgaria itself. In 5 cases, neighboring but nearby weather stations were also used to obtain more accurate values.