Ice Storms

One of the defining aspects of Slovenian landscape is its forestland.  It is the most-densely forested country in non-Scandinavian Europe, with almost 60% of its land covered by forests.  Given the geographical diversity, it also has one of the most diverse tree populations in Europe as well.

This past spring, Slovenia was hit with about the worst ice storm imaginable, with the area around Postojna (about halfway between Ljubljana and the coast) taking the brunt of it.  Some places were left covered in six inches of ice and a quarter of the households in Slovenia lost power.  The damage estimates are over $100 million and the clean-up effort is expected to take two years.  The pictures of it are unbelievable.

Driving down to Piran last week, we saw the remnants of the storm along the highway.  It looks like someone came along with a giant buzzsaw and hacked off every tree two-thirds of the way up.  It is quite sad, although our taxi driver from the airport when we arrived had a more positive outlook: “People will have jobs for two years,” he said.