Medvednica () is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

in central

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, just north of

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, and marking the southern border of the historic region of

Zagorje Hrvatsko Zagorje (; Croatian Zagorje; ''zagorje'' is Croatian for "backland" or "behind the hills") is a cultural region in northern Croatia, traditionally separated from the country's capital Zagreb by the Medvednica Mountain. It compris ...

. The highest peak, at is Sljeme. Most of the area of Medvednica is a

nature park A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected natural area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscape ...

(''park prirode''), a type of preservation lesser than a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

. The area of the park is and about 63% is covered with forest. During

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

and

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58an island within the

Pannonian Sea The Pannonian Sea was a shallow ancient lake, where the Pannonian Basin in Central Europe is now. The Pannonian Sea existed from about 10 Ma (million years ago) until 1 Ma, during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, when marine sediments were dep ...

Etymology

The name Medvednica could be translated as "

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

mountain", there being other toponyms on the mountain using the

Kajkavian dialect Kajkavian (Kajkavian noun: ''kajkavščina''; Shtokavian adjective: ''kajkavski'' , noun: ''kajkavica'' or ''kajkavština'' ) is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats in much of Central Croatia, Gorski Kotar and nort ...

term ''medved'' ( standard Croatian "medvjed" = bear), notably

Medvedgrad Medvedgrad (; Croatian for ''bear-town''; hu, Medvevár) 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 purpos ...

, a medieval castle on its southwestern edges. Sljeme () (''Sleme'' in

Kajkavian Kajkavian (Kajkavian noun: ''kajkavščina''; Shtokavian adjective: ''kajkavski'' , noun: ''kajkavica'' or ''kajkavština'' ) is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats in much of Central Croatia, Gorski Kotar and nort ...

) means ''summit'', and it is a name often used to refer to the entire mountain.

Climate

The

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

of the Medvednica mountain is typical for Central European mountain ranges. The average annual precipitation is around 1300 mm (cf. 840 mm at Zagreb–Grič), which provides for an abundance of rich spring wells. Snow cover lasts for about 100 days in a year, the thickest being in February. The skiing slopes are also covered with

artificial snow Snowmaking is the production of snow by forcing water and pressurized air through a "snow gun", also known as a "snow cannon". Snowmaking is mainly used at ski resorts to supplement natural snow. This allows ski resorts to improve the reliabilit ...

when necessary. Much more sunshine occurs 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, and higher duration and quantity of snow cover. The Medvednica area is located in a temperate zone where air temperature decreases for 0.5 °C for every 100 m of elevation. Based on the annual rate of precipitation, Medvednica is characterised as having a continental precipitation regimen with maximum precipitation during the warm part of the year (April to September).

Temperature

During summer and winter,

temperature inversion In meteorology, an inversion is a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude. It almost always refers to an inversion of the air temperature lapse rate, in which case it is called a temperature inversion. No ...

is sometimes present. An

anticyclone An anticyclone is a weather phenomenon defined as a large-scale circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure, clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from abov ...

forms above the cold continent during winter. When its center is close to Croatia, the weather is cold and gloomy in Zagreb and warmer at Sljeme. The mean annual air temperature on Medvednica is , compared with in Zagreb. The mean temperature in summer months is on average lower by than in Zagreb. On average, 15 days have temperatures below , eight days a year have average daily maxima higher than , and only one day reaches above . The coldest month is January with a mean monthly air temperature of , while the warmest month is July with an average temperature of .

Insolation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre (W/m ...

exceeds Zagreb's by about 100 hours annually. This difference manifests itself during the colder period of the year, from October to March, when more fog occurs in Zagreb.

Precipitation

The

relative air humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

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. The number of days with relative humidity above 80% is greatest on Puntijarka (158 days annually), and it decreases with the decrease in elevation; for example, at the Zagreb–Grič station it is 67 days annually. On all stations, the warm part of the year (from April to September) has the most thunderstorm days; these are often connected to showers. June has the most thunderstorm days (Puntijarka 7). The annual precipitation on Medvednica is about 50% higher in comparison to Zagreb (Zagreb: , Sljeme: , Kraljičin zdenac: , Fakultetsko dobro: ). Average number of days with hoar is 40 (4 in Zagreb). The 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 (26 in Zagreb) and they are more frequent during the cold part of the year. The number of days with storm-force wind is 21 (2 in Zagreb), also mostly during the cold part of the year. In 1980, the forests of Medvednica, especially

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

trees, were heavily stricken by a catastrophic ice break. Later, in February 1983, large devastations occurred as a result of strong wind (large damage on fir). Effects of such a strong wind can be seen in the area of Adolfovac as of early 2010s.

Skiing

A winter sports center is based on the northern slopes towards Sljeme. The center has hosted several

FIS FIS or fis may refer to: Science and technology * '' Fis'', an ''E. Coli'' gene * Fis phenomenon, a phenomenon in linguistics * F♯ (musical note) * Flight information service, an air traffic control service * Frame Information Structure, a Se ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

slalom skiing Slalom is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline, involving skiing between poles or gates. These are spaced more closely than those in giant slalom, super-G, super giant slalom and Downhill (ski competition), downhill, necessitating ...

races, known as the

Snow Queen Trophy Snow Queen ( hr, Snježna kraljica) is a World Cup alpine ski race held in the hills of Zagreb, Croatia. The men's and women's slalom races take place on the Medvednica mountaintop Sljeme, just north of Zagreb, usually in early January. The wome ...

. The winter sports center consists of one

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. They ...

for three persons and two

T-bar lift A surface lift is a type of cable transport for snow sports in which skiers and snowboarders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher-capacity and higher-co ...

s. Equipment for producing

has been added, and because of that, the skiing season has been prolonged to more than four months. Three ways exist to reach the mountain: by road (with a car or a bus) or on foot (numerous mountain paths). In the past, an older

gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supp ...

was present, which started from the Gračani neighborhood just below Medvednica. The cable car had run from 1963 to 2007, when a major fault in the engine room made repairs economically impossible. The gondola had a capacity for four people, with a 23-minute journey time, covering a distance of 4023 m. The new gondola lift was opened on 23 February 2022, has a capacity of 10 people and WiFi. On Medvednica are dozen of

mountain hut A mountain hut is a building located high in the mountains, generally accessible only by foot, intended to provide food and shelter to mountaineers, climbers and hikers. Mountain huts are usually operated by an Alpine Club or some organization d ...

s for traditional one-day trips to the mountain. Because of its proximity to

, Medvednica has many visitors, especially during weekends.Medvednica.info
/ref> Among the most popular sites is the

Veternica cave Veternica is a cave located on the Medvednica mountain, north of Zagreb, Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beauti ...

with a 2,622-m-long main channel.

Views of Medvednica

File:Sljeme.jpg, View of Zagreb from Sljeme File:Medvednica2009.JPG, Ski clubs' houses and restaurants near the summit File:Medvednica, Croatia.JPG, Sljeme with the TV tower seen from Medvedgrad castle

References

External links

Mount Medvednica
{{Authority control Mountains of Croatia Nature parks of Croatia Ski areas and resorts in Croatia Geography of Zagreb Forests of Croatia Tourist attractions in Zagreb Pannonian island mountains