The Danube River at Silistra began to freeze over on January 30 2012 as icy weather sent temperatures records in 15 places in Bulgaria plummeting to new lows and most of the country faced a "Code Orange" hazardous weather warning.

The town of Chirpan made headlines with a record-low minus 24 degrees Celsius in the early morning.

Fifteen weather stations reported record lows, including in Varna, where a minus 11.8 degree measurement beat the 1963 record of minus 8.3 degrees. Veliko Turnovo recorded minus 15.5 degrees, beating its 1961 record of minus 13 degrees.

Across Bulgaria, 173 schools were closed because of freezing weather or flu outbreaks, Education Minister Sergei Ignatov said. This included 106 in the Sofia region, 22 in Pazardzhik and one in Pleven.

Civil defence services called on people to avoid unnecessary trips and said that people should avoid working in the open.

Sofia municipality said that it would be handing out 500 cups of hot tea in the morning at three points in the capital city – at the main railway station, Sveta Nedelya church and at the National Palace of Culture, but media reports said that the event was delayed in getting underway.

The only parts of the country not facing Code Orange were Blagoevgrad, Smolyan and Kyustendil, although they faced the lesser "Code Yellow" warning.

Local media said that strong winds in Varna, Bourgas and Dobrich aggravated wind chill.

Bulgarian National Television said that in Varna, the combination of icy winds and waves made for "amazing ice sculptures, which, unfortunately, few people were able to enjoy".

In Plovdiv, which woke to temperatures of minus 13, the municipality arranged temporary accommodation for homeless people in two hospitals.