Adapting to the climate in Romania

Hello everyone,

Adjusting to new climatic conditions is key in any expatriation process. Moving to Romania is no exception.

What are the climate characteristics of Romania?

How does the local weather impact your daily life, mood or health?

What are the pros and cons of the climate in Romania?

Share you advice and help people adapt quickly to their new weather environment.

Thanks in advance,

Priscilla

Depends where you're from, obviously, but it's generally quite cold in Jan and Feb with extended periods of snow on the ground. However, in Bucharest at least, they are quite efficient at clearing and salting the road surfaces. In the summer, it can be pretty hot (30-35 celsius) and a touch humid, although in the countryside it's nice and cool at night, even after a hot day. Bucharest has a lot of parks and these are nice to spend time in on summer's evenings and most of them have little terrace bars where you can buy a cooling beverage. Spring and autumn are lovely though - plenty of sunshine, reasonable temperatures and beautiful landscapes.

A few 'warnings'. Romanians seem to have some genetic disorder which means they catch colds when the air moves, which means even when it's in the high 30s, they are terrified of opening windows or using air conditioning. This causes a phenomenon called 'curent' (translation: a nice cool breeze) which will cause them all kinds of problems - ear ache, headaches, muscular fever, influenza and ultimately death. Whatever you do, don't open two windows simultaneously or you'll risk getting attacked!

Furthermore, most drivers won't adjust their speed according to weather conditions, so take extra care when driving in wet or foggy weather.

Maykal wrote:

A few 'warnings'. Romanians seem to have some genetic disorder which means they catch colds when the air moves, which means even when it's in the high 30s, they are terrified of opening windows or using air conditioning. This causes a phenomenon called 'curent' (translation: a nice cool breeze) which will cause them all kinds of problems - ear ache, headaches, muscular fever, influenza and ultimately death. Whatever you do, don't open two windows simultaneously or you'll risk getting attacked!


Adding along with this, pertaining to children...small kids are expected to be covered with some type of warm hat, year round.  Not having a child's head covered with some hat or giving the child a cold drink or dare I say, an ice cream in the summer will prompt old ladies to scold you and lecture that this will cause illness.

Also, opening a window on public transport is also likely to bring about panic and lectures.  Apparently, suffocating on stuffy air and body odor from fellow travelers is fine, but fresh air will bring terminal illness in Romania.

Okay the climate is my second biggest challenge here...I come from northern America way north near canada so the winters are not a problem but the Vara/summer WOW still getting used to it...but its gets better every year for me