According to the Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service website, freezing temperatures are coming soon. This time around, the whole country will be affected. There will be snow, as well. Among other things, the meteorological site shows maps of Croatia up to seven days in advance. The last two days, snow was forecast for Zagreb this weekend, but it disappeared from the maps today. And it is anyone’s guess what the maps will show the next few days. Once again, I find myself following the website largely for fun. Indeed, it is amazing to see how poor at forecasting the meteorologists have gotten. They are all over the place even a few days in advance. Anyhow, the real question is when the first snow will arrive in the Croatian capital and how long it will last. The last few years, this happened only a few times during the so-called winter season, but wintry bouts lasted only about a week at a time. There were two such bouts last year and three of them the previous year. How many will there be this year, though? That is the question, but the meteorologists are the last ones to figure it out nowadays.

Addendum (November 22, 2015)

The last four days, the forecasts for the weekend were consistent throughout: snow on Saturday and sun with clouds on Sunday. By comparison with the early forecasts for this weekend, there was little doubt left. The meteorologists seemed sure of their predictions. So, how was the weather on Saturday, which was yesterday? To begin with, there was no snow in the center of Zagreb yesterday. It rained all day and the temperature dropped precipitously, but it never reached zero. Not a single snowflake came down the entire day. However, there was some snow on the hills to the north of the city, just as there was snow in several hilly regions of Croatia. And how is it today, Sunday? It rained in the morning, but heavy clouds marked the afternoon. Patches of blue sky occasionally appeared between the clouds, but the sun could hardly be seen in central Zagreb. As for the maps on the vaunted meteorological site, they should have shown clouds with rain for the whole weekend. Poor meteorologists, indeed. In spite of all the science and technology at their disposal, they cannot get it right even a day in advance, let alone an entire week.