The national weather service in Bulgaria has raised a Code Orange warning for Friday as temperatures sharply dropped overnight on the entire territory of the country and the meteorological winter arrived.

Code Orange signifies "dangerous weather" and is second in degree of alert, behind Code Red ("extremely dangerous"). Friday Code Orange is set for the entire territory of Bulgaria.

Strong winds from the Northwest hit the Eastern parts of the country by Friday morning, bringing rain, which will turn to snow.

The winds will be with speeds between 56 to 85 km/hour while the precipitations will last 5 to 6 hours and will reach 10 liters per square meter. The snow will last the longest in Eastern and Southeastern Bulgaria, and in the highest mountain elevations where blizzards are expected.

Temperatures will fall sharply and the roads can become icy and treacherous. 6 Bulgarian regions are under code yellow for dangerous weather conditions – Targovishte, Shumen, Razgrad, Ruse, Dobrich and Silistra.