Serbia Weekend Heat Tops 37C, Cooldown Waits Until Sept 10
RHMZ forecasts highs of up to 37 degrees Celsius for Saturday, while other sources mention 38 and even 40. The real cooldown, the Institute says, won't arrive until September 10.
- The Republic Hydrometeorological Institute of Serbia (RHMZ) updated its forecast today at 11:30 a.m., putting Saturday's high at up to 37 degrees Celsius in Negotin.
- Sources disagree on Saturday's peak: RHMZ says 37, b92 says 34 to 38, and meteorologist Ivan Ristic tells Kurir it could reach 40.
- For Sunday, RHMZ forecasts a drop to 19 to 31 degrees, with heavier cloud cover and wind.
- RHMZ says a real change in weather type won't arrive until September 10, while Ristic talks about a cold front as early as September 11.
How hot will the thermometer actually get this Saturday? It depends who you ask, though everyone agrees it won’t be mild. The Republic Hydrometeorological Institute of Serbia (RHMZ) refreshed the forecast table on its website today at 11:30 a.m., putting Saturday, September 5, at highs of up to 37 degrees Celsius in Negotin. That’s the official figure. Other sources put it higher.
We reported a few days ago on the fire risk tied to the drought and the heat, when RHMZ first warned of extreme danger from open fires spreading. Today’s refreshed forecast shows that situation is continuing, with no relief yet in sight.
What RHMZ’s table officially says
According to the table updated today at 11:30 a.m., Friday, September 4, will see highs ranging from 18 degrees on Kopaonik to 33 in Negotin, with lows between 10 and 21 degrees. Belgrade was forecast for around 32 degrees on Friday, up from a morning low of 21.
For Saturday, September 5, RHMZ puts the high at up to 37 degrees, again in Negotin, while Kopaonik stays at 25. Overnight lows that night range from 12 degrees on Kopaonik to 21 in Negotin. Belgrade is set for a Saturday high of 36.
For Sunday, September 6, the table shows a drop, with highs ranging from 19 to 31 degrees. The Institute also forecasts scattered cloud cover across Vojvodina on Saturday afternoon and evening, with occasional brief rain or showers, and says a similar shift will move into the rest of the country overnight into Sunday, accompanied by stronger northwesterly wind.
Why the Saturday numbers differ
The sources don’t agree here, so there’s no point quietly picking one. RHMZ officially puts the peak at 37 degrees, in Negotin. The portal b92, in its own forecast, states that “it will be hottest on Saturday, September 5, with temperatures from 34 to 38 degrees.” Meteorologist Ivan Ristic goes further, telling Kurir that on Saturday, because of hot air arriving from Africa, temperatures could reach as high as 40 degrees. The gap between 37 and 40 isn’t trivial, and it shows how sensitive this forecast still is, a day out, to which model it’s based on.
Ristic also rates August as an exceptionally hot month.
For example, Belgrade recorded as many as 22 consecutive days with tropical temperatures, without a single break. The start of September will bring us a milder change in the weather and some slight relief.
That milder spell, he adds, lasts only until Saturday, when a new, brief wave of heat arrives.
When the cooldown actually arrives
In today’s statement, RHMZ says warm, sunny weather will continue through next week, with highs up to 35, locally up to 37 degrees, warning that the rainfall deficit and high fire risk will persist through the end of the first ten days of September. A genuine change in weather type, according to the Institute, won’t arrive until September 10, with more frequent incursions of damper, colder air from western and northwestern Europe.
Ivan Ristic, in a piece published today in Kurir, points to an earlier date:
There’s a good chance of a sharper cooldown and a sudden shift from summer to autumn, so in just one day we could go from summer’s tropical temperatures straight into autumn jackets.
The same piece states that a cold front, with temperatures dropping by around 20 degrees, arrives as early as September 11. But in his earlier, more detailed comments to the same outlet, Ristic was more precise, and the picture shifts slightly there: the second ten days of September, from the 11th to the 20th, he says, stay relatively warm, with highs between 30 and 35 degrees and tropical nights above 20. He places the real, autumnal cooldown, with daytime highs of 13 to 18 degrees and mornings below 10, only in the final ten days of the month, from the 21st to the 30th.
From the 11th of the month, the weather will call for thinner jackets and fairly layered clothing.
So this is a gentler drop, not the full leap into autumn that today’s headlines suggest.
What this means for the weekend
While meteorologists argue over two or three degrees and the exact date, the message for an ordinary household is the same. Saturday remains the hottest day, with highs somewhere between 36 and 40 degrees depending on the source. Sunday brings the first, moderate relief. The real change waits until the middle of next week, from September 10 according to RHMZ.
Until that change arrives, RHMZ continues to warn of high fire risk in the open, and rivers remain at very low levels. The Institute expects water levels to start recovering only once the rain expected after September 10 arrives.
For this weekend, then, stick with what you already know from previous heat waves: avoid the sun between noon and 5 p.m., drink water even when you’re not thirsty, and don’t plan strenuous outdoor activity for Saturday afternoon, whether the thermometer stops at 37 or at 40.
