BLIZZARDS OF THE WINTER OF 2011-2012
ION MARINICĂ, IULICA VĂDUVA, ANDREEA FLORIANA MARINICĂ
Abstract: This paper analyzes the main blizzards from the winter of 2011-2012, caused by the radical weather change on January 25th, 2012. After the excessively droughty autumn of 2011 (Marinică, Marinică, 2012), the warm December on the whole was followed by a warm January in the first 25 days, and then a sudden change of the thermal time type occurred. The excessively cold interval January 26th- February 15th, 2012 caused many human victims in the entire country and at the level of the whole European continent, as well as significant material damages, this short episode of severe winter has been one of the coldest of the history of climatic observations. The analysis is a continuation of extended studies on the ever-growing climatic oscillations and risks, as a consequence of the climatic variability increase in Romania (Bogdan, Marinică, 2007, 2009).
The paper is useful for a broad category of specialists interested in the climate and climatic risk.Key words: severe weather, blizzard, snowdrifts, yellow code, orange code, snow layer.