Over the last decades, numerous extreme climate events such as extreme temperatures, droughts, heavy precipitation, and storms associated with climate change have been recorded in many countries, including Bulgaria. As a result, geomorphological hazards such as landslides, debris flows, mudflows, high-speed soil erosion, etc. often occur on the territory of the country. The debris flow is one of the most common hazardous processes in small catchments of the main river basins in Bulgaria. The Kresna Gorge located in the middle part of Struma River valley is a typical area with such processes which often cause the damages to the E79 international highway. The purpose of the present study is to characterize debris flows in Kresna Gorge (southwestern part of Bulgaria) by comparative analysis between the two events (occurred on May 24, 2009 and July 28, 2019). In order to achieve the aim of the study the geomorphological features and flow type of 2019 event were identified and the results were compared with the previous publications which investigated the event on May 24, 2009. In the present paper, the sediments and the type of transportation of the investigated event (July 2019) were determined by grain-size and clast-shape analysis. The impact of weather conditions on debris flow occurrence was shown by the analysis of the synoptic conditions on the day before the event. The results of the study bring to clarifying the geological-geomorphological and meteorological factors for the occurrence of debris flow and are important for geomorphological hazard management.

In the present study is characterized the synoptic situation and conditions, which led to a debris flow event in the Manastirska River valley on August 22, 2022. The main reason for the occurrence of this hazardous events is predetermined by one of the right tributaries of the Manastirska River. For the purpose of the study, several morphometric parameters of the tributary were calculated and analyzed such as area and shape of the basin, slopes, aspect, drainage network length, drainage density, etc. The type and the transportation of the sediments were determined by measurements, grain-size and clast-shape analysis. The impact of weather conditions on debris flow occurrence were determined by the analysis of the synoptic conditions on the days before the event.

The present study characterizes some microclimatic differences on the northern slope of the Western Rhodopes Mountains. The data for the analysis are based on the observations at three points: Brestovitsa at the foot, Bryanovshtitsa on the slope and Vurhovruh hut on the ridge, during July and August. Average temperatures, average minimum and maximum temperatures as well as the absolute minimum and maximum temperatures were established. They decrease naturally in accordance with altitude change, showing a dependence on synoptic conditions and microclimatic differences. The vertical temperature gradient is calculated for the studied parameters, with the largest values for the absolute maximum temperature amounting to 1.1 °C and the smallest for the absolute minimum and mean minimum temperature amounting to 0.5 °C. The largest values of the vertical temperature gradient for all parameters were observed between Brestovitsa and Bryanovstitsa.

The article examines the occurrence of extremely cold and extremely warm days as an indicator of environmental changes in the Pirin Mountain (Bulgaria). The study is based on hourly air temperature data recorded by an automatic weather station. By averaging the hourly data, daily values are calculated. The occurrence of extremely cold and extremely warm days during the period 2015–2018 for January, April, July and October are analyzed. Extreme temperature days are determined by threshold values for the 10th and 90th percentiles. Characteristic synoptic situations related to the manifestation of extreme temperatures are presented. As a result of the research it was established that the advections of air masses are the leading factor for the occurrence of extreme temperatures. In addition very important for the extremely low temperatures is the high air pressure over the Balkan Peninsula.

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