Medvednica
Encyclopedia
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
in central Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, just north of Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
and marking the southern border of the historic region of Zagorje
Hrvatsko Zagorje
Hrvatsko Zagorje is a region north of Zagreb, Croatia. It comprises the whole area north of Medvednica mountain up to Slovenia in the north and west, and up to the regions of Međimurje and Podravina in the north and east...
. The highest peak, at 1,035 m, is Sljeme. Most of the area of Medvednica is a nature park
Nature park
A nature park is a landscape protected by means of long-term planning, use and agriculture. These valuable landscapes are preserved in their present state and promoted for touristic purposes....
(park prirode), a type of preservation lesser than a national park. The area of the park is 228.26 square kilometers and about 63% is covered with forest.
Etymology
The name Medvednica could be translated as "bearBear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
mountain", there being other toponyms on the mountain using the kajkavian dialect
Kajkavian dialect
The Kajkavian dialect is one of the three main dialects of Croatian. It has low mutual intelligibility with the other two dialects, Štokavian and Čakavian. All three are named after their word for "what?", which in Kajkavian is kaj....
term medved (standard Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
"medvjed" = bear), notably Medvedgrad
Medvedgrad
Medvedgrad is a medieval fortified town located on the south slopes of Medvednica mountain, approximately halfway from the Croatian capital Zagreb to the mountain top Sljeme. For defensive purposes it was built on a hill, Mali Plazur, that is a spur of the main ridge of the mountain that overlooks...
, a medieval castle on its southwestern edges.
Sljeme (sʎɛ̂mɛ) means summit, and is a name often used to refer to the entire mountain.
Climate
The climateClimate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
on the Medvednica mountain is typical for Central European mountain ranges. The average annual precipitation is around 1300 mm (Zagreb - Grič 840 mm), also the reason for rich spring wells everywhere. The average annual temperature is around 7°C (Zagreb 12°C). There is a snow cover approximately for 100 days in a year, the thickest being in February, leaving the skiing slopes also covered with artificial snow when necessary. There is much more sunshine during the winter on Medvednica than in Zagreb or Zagorje, so it is not surprising that winter is the most visited season on the Medvednica mountain.
Medvednica, in comparison to the surrounding lowland area, behaves as an "island" in its climate characteristics, with more precipitation, lower temperatures, duration and quantity of snow cover. Medvednica area is located in temperature zone where air temperature decreases for 0.5°C for every 100 meters elevation. According to characteristics of annual rate of precipitation, Medvednica is characterized with continental precipitation regime with maximal precipitation during the warm part of the year (IV-IX month).
Temperature
During summer one can find pleasant refreshment on Medvednica and during winter temperature inversion is sometimes present. Anticyclone forms above the cold continent during winter. When its center is close, it is cold and gloomy in Zagreb and on Sljeme it is warmer. Mean annual air temperature on Medvednica is 6.2°C and in Zagreb 11.4°C. Mean temperature in summer months is on average 6°C lower than it is in Zagreb.On average there are 15 days with temperature below –10°C, 8 days a year have average daily maximum higher than 25°C, and only one day above 30°C. The coldest month is January with mean monthly air temperature -3.1°C. The warmest month is July with average temperature 15.2°C. Insolation is much bigger than the one in Zagreb , about 100 hours annually. This difference is present during the colder period of the year, from October to March, when there is more fog in Zagreb. More clear skies on Medvednica than in the city are a good reason for pleasant winter excursions.
Precipitation
Relative air moisture is largest during the cold part of the year, and generally is larger on stations with higher altitude because of lower temperatures, but luxuriant vegetation. Number of days with relative moisture above 80% is greatest on Puntijarka (158 days annually), and it decreases with the decrease in elevation, for example on station Zagreb-Grič it is 67 days annually. On all stations the most thunderstorm days are in the warm part of the year (from April to September), when they are often connected to showers. These thunderstorm days occur in June (Puntijarka 7).Annual precipitation on Medvednica is about 50% higher in comparison to Zagreb ( Zagreb 844 mm, Sljeme 1238 mm, Kraljičin zdenac 1159 mm, Faculty goods 1142 mm). Average number of days with hoar is 40 ( Zagreb 4). Mean annual number of days with snowfall on the top of Medvednica, most usually in January and February, is 54 days.
The Number of days with strong wind is 91 ( Zagreb 26) and they are more frequent during the cold part of the year, and the number of days with storm wind is 21 ( Zagreb 2), also during the cold part of the year. Forests of Medvednica have been heavily stricken by a catastrophic ice break which devastated forests (mainly beech) in November 1980, and later, in February 1983 large devastations occurred as a result of strong wing (large damage on fir). Effects of such a strong wind can still be seen in the area of Adolfovac.
Winter sports center
International Ski Federation
The International Ski Federation, known by its name in French, Fédération Internationale de Ski is the main international organisation for ski sports...
World Cup
Alpine skiing World Cup
The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France and the USA...
slalom skiing
Slalom skiing
Slalom is an alpine skiing discipline, involving skiing between poles spaced much closer together than in Giant Slalom, Super-G or Downhill, thereby causing quicker and shorter turns.- Origins :...
races, known as the Snow Queen Trophy
Snow Queen Trophy
Snow Queen is the name of a men's and women's slalom race held as part of the Alpine skiing World Cup. It has taken place on the Medvednica mountaintop Sljeme since 2005....
.
The winter sports center consists of one chairlift
Chairlift
An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel cable loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs...
for three persons and two T-bar lift
T-bar lift
A T-bar lift, also called T-bar, is a mechanised system for transporting skiers and snowboarders uphill, along the surface of the slope...
s. Equipment for producing artificial snow has been added, and because of that the skiing season has been prolonged to more than four months. There are three ways to reach the mountain: by car, on foot (there are numerous mountain paths) or by gondola lift
Gondola lift
A gondola lift is a type of aerial lift, normally called a cable car, which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel cable that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supporting towers. The cable is driven by a bullwheel in a terminal,...
, which starts from the Gračani neighborhood. The cable car
Cable car
A cable car is any of a variety of transportation systems relying on cables to pull vehicles along or lower them at a steady rate, or a vehicle on these systems.-Aerial lift:Aerial lifts where the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable:...
has run since 1963, and takes four people, with a 23 minute journey time.
On Medvednica there are dozen of mountain huts for traditional one-day trips in the mountain. Because of its proximity to Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, Medvednica has many visitors, especially during weekends. Among the most popular sites is the Veternica cave with a 2,622 meters long main channel.
Sources
- The most recent climatologic data are taken from the report Regional plan for area with special characteristic in Nature Park Medvednica – Starting points and goals of regional planning. Concept, ZagrebZagrebZagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, July 2003.