Weather locations in Serbia

Serbia is a landlocked country in the centre of the Balkans, lying north of Greece and Bulgaria and south of Hungary and Romania. Its position between the Adriatic to the south-west and the Pannonian plain to the north gives it a moderately continental climate with clearly separated seasons, and the Dinaric and Balkan mountain ranges account for much of the rainfall and snow. Summers are warm and often dry, winters are cold enough for snow in most lowland and mountain places.

Main climate types

The Pannonian part of the country, including the Vojvodina plain around Novi Sad and Subotica, is the most continental, with hot summers and cold winters. The central lowlands around Belgrade form a transition to a temperate zone, while the western mountains of the Dinaric Alps, the Fruska Gora and the Zlatibor and Kopaonik ranges, are cooler and much wetter, and the eastern Balkan mountains around Zajechar take a continental version of a Mediterranean regime in their lower valleys.

Temperatures

Belgrade averages about 1 °C in January and about 24 °C in July, with frequent swings of 15 °C or more between consecutive days in spring and autumn. Novi Sad is similar, slightly warmer in summer. Mountain stations run several degrees colder in winter and much cooler in summer, and it is not unusual for snow to lie on the high ground from December into March. Night frosts occur in the lowlands from late October.

Rainfall

Annual rainfall is moderate and rises with altitude, roughly 650 mm to 800 mm at Belgrade and Novi Sad, and between 800 mm and 1,100 mm on the hills and mountains such as Zlatibor. Summer and late spring tends to be the wettest, with storm showers, while late winter and early spring bring the snow. In the driest lowland areas rainfall can fall below 600 mm, and the warm, dry summer days are the norm rather than the exception.

When to go

June to September is generally the best season for the lowlands and the coast-less cities, and the mountain resorts such as Zlatibor and Kopaonik are most comfortable in summer. Snow sports need roughly December to early March, and spring and autumn bring the most changeable weather.