Due to climate change, the number of snowy days in the country is steadily decreasing.
On New Year’s night this year, snowfall was recorded in several regions of Hungary—including Budapest.
While this makes for beautiful photographs, it does not erase the fact that such scenes are becoming increasingly rare.
Over the past 40 years, the average annual number of snowy days (defined as days with at least 1 cm of snowfall) has declined from 15 to 11. The decrease has become particularly noticeable over the last decade.
On a nationwide scale, the last time Hungary experienced heavy snowfall affecting the entire country was in 2013.
The changes are most likely driven by climate change, and experts expect this trend to continue.
That said, both residents and visitors still have some chance of enjoying snowy landscapes. On the Great Hungarian Plain, there are on average only 20–30 days per year with snowfall or snow cover, while in mountainous regions snow cover can persist for up to 80 days.
The New Year’s snow photographs were taken by Boglárka Bodnár (Budapest) and Zoltán Kocsis (Pilis Mountains).
