April 7, 2021 - The first April snow cover in Split was recorded on Tuesday night as weird spring weather ripped across Croatia. 

It was a historic meteorological evening in Split on April 6, 2021. In the coldest moment of the evening, the temperature at the official DHMZ station, located on Marjan, measured 0.4 ° C (rounded to 0 ° C). This is only a tenth of a degree higher than the absolute minimum for April measured on April 8, 2003.

Snow fell all over the city, but higher city areas were covered, especially in neighborhoods like Visoka and Mejaši. 

Miroslav Lelas / PIXSELL

The peak of the ice wave hit Dalmatia last night at around 9 pm. Snow fell on the entire Split area, including Kaštela. In Inland Dalmatia and  Dugopolje, the snowfall was up to 20 centimeters! 

In Kaštel Gomilica, there was a real snowstorm with hurricane gusts of bura wind up to 120 km / h. Snow also fell along the coast in Vodice, Šibenik, and Brela, reports Dalmacija Danas.

Miroslav Lelas / PIXSELL

Due to strong gusts of wind on the Dinara, the cold was as high as -24 degrees. As the snow fell, the temperature dropped to 0, which is also one of the record low temperatures for Dalmatia at this time of year.

Miroslav Lelas / PIXSELL

Southern Croatia does not remember when the last snow fell in April.

And although it was only a symbolic snow cover, it is the first known snow cover in Split in April in known history, reports Dalmacija Danas.

Until this morning, Dalmatia was cut off from the rest of Croatia. Last night from 10 pm, all traffic from the interior to Dalmatia and vice versa for all categories of vehicles was prohibited, and only this morning at 6 am did traffic open, however only for personal vehicles to the junction Sveti Rok and then state roads through Gračac, Obrovac, and Karin.

Miroslav Lelas / PIXSELL

There is still no passable road to Dalmatia for delivery vehicles, buses, trucks, trucks with trailers, and tractors with semi-trailers, and HAK warns drivers not to drive if they do not have to.

While we wake up to sunny skies on Wednesday morning, at least those of us in Split can say that we experienced a historic meteorological night! 

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Dalmatia woke up to negative temperatures on Friday. According to Pljusak.com, at 6 am in Knin this morning, temperatures measured -2.2 degrees Celsius, Drniš measured -2.7 degrees Celsius, and Šibenik measured -1.3, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on January 4, 2019. 

The coastal town of Primošten measured -1.6 degrees at 7 am this morning, while Sinj was -3.1, Klis was -2.3, and the Mosor Observatory measured -5.8 degrees Celsius. The coldest temperatures were measured at Sveti Jure on Biokovo, where it was a crippling -15.3 degrees Celsius at 6 am. 

The Dalmatian capital wasn't nearly as chilly, as temperatures measured 0.2 degrees Celsius according to DHMZ. Zrnovnica and Solin measured 0.4, Ploče 0.5 degrees, Makarska 0.7, Lastovo 0.9, and Omiš, Hvar and Dubrovnik measured the warmest, at 1.3 degrees.

The bura came back with a vengeance this week and will continue to wreak havoc on the northern Adriatic. Fortunately, we’ll have fewer problems than Thursday. The afternoon will boast sunshine though there is there a slight possibility of mild precipitation later today. The mountains will be quite cold in the evening with occasional snow and strong winds, so it is best to postpone any trip to the late afternoon. 

Snow will fall in the interior of Dalmatia, especially in the evening and morning, though the day will pass mostly without precipitation and with partially sunny skies. The middle of the Adriatic is still sunny, though still relatively cold, with strong and stormy bura winds. Once again, the winds are weaker than Thursday. The sea will be quite wavy and choppy.

The south will be equally windy and cold, though mostly sunny. The islands and Konavle should see some rainfall. 

Saturday morning will be even colder on land, with the daily temperature not reaching above 0°C. The north and northwest winds will weaken on Saturday. There will be some snow over the weekend and some sleet. Traffic cautions will be necessary at the beginning of next week.

On Saturday the Adriatic will continue to feature winter conditions, with some temperatures in the minus, with the potential of some snow. On Sunday, however, temperatures will be a little higher, though they come with stronger bura winds which will gust into Monday. 

The Croatian Autoclub has warned drivers of trucks and semis that there is currently no open road for them between the interior and Dalmatia. Rijeka and Istria are open for all vehicles only on the A6 Rijeka-Zagreb motorway.

Because of the winds, HAK announced that the section of the A1 motorway between Sveti Rok and Maslenica, as well as the state road Maslenica-Zaton Obrovački, is open only for passenger cars, while traffic could be prohibited for  buses, vehicles with caravans and motorcycles (I group of vehicles) on the Franjo Tudjman bridge in Dubrovnik and the Adriatic highway between Senj and Karlobag. Between Karlobag and Sv. Marija Magdalena is an additional ban on cargo vehicles and vehicles with an overhead freight area (I and II group vehicles).

The ferry line Dubrovnik-Lopud-Suđurađ, catamaran lines Vis-Split, Ubli-Vela Luka-Hvar-Split and Pula-Mali Lošinj-Zadar, and Zadar-Preko have interupptions. 

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