Weather news from Greece

[Athens Heat]

39.1C Greece's max today in Rethymno, Crete according to the National Observatory of Athens met station

https://web.archive.org/web/20221001135152/https://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/fragmapotamon/

[Athens Heat]

A very hot October night for South Greece

Its 2 am local time and the met station of Lindos is still hovering over 32C! 

[Athens Heat]

Probably a record breaking night for October in South Greece!

3 am local time and Ts in Crete are up to 34.3C due to strong foehn winds

Edited October 2, 2022 by Athens Heat

[Athens Heat]

Greece is currently experiencing a late October hot spell. 

It is already 33C locally in south Crete according to the Davis stations of the island....and its only 11 am local time now in Greece.

It's going to remain hot across Greece the next 3-4 days.

[ANYWEATHER]

Yes but didn't Greece experience one of the coldest Winters on record this year..

[Athens Heat]

Pretty hot December so far in Greece.

Yesterday Crete registered locally 26.2C at the National Observatory station in Chania

[Athens Heat]

Unlike the UK, in Greece  December is on track of becoming one of  warmest Decembers on record for downtown Athens. According to the National Observatory observations dating from the 19th century this month will be if not the warmest December on record then easily in top 3 or top 5 warmest Decembers from late 19th century.  

We have met stations right now in Greece registering monthly average minimums as high as 17C! This is crazy for December even by Greece's standards. 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Athens Heat

[Athens Heat]

Merry Xmas everyone!

Today Athens rose to 20C locally. 

December 2022 will probably be the warmest on record for Greece. We still have areas in the South that record average maximum Ts at 20C so far for December...

https://web.archive.org/web/20221225101637/https://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/kastellorizo/NOAAYR.TXT

https://web.archive.org/web/20221225121945/https://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/kalamata/NOAAYR.TXT

https://web.archive.org/web/20221225122905/https://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/chaniacenter/NOAAYR.TXT

Edited December 25, 2022 by Athens Heat

[ANYWEATHER]

On 18/12/2022 at 10:34, Athens Heat said:

Unlike the UK, in Greece  December is on track of becoming one of  warmest Decembers on record for downtown Athens. According to the National Observatory observations dating from the 19th century this month will be if not the warmest December on record then easily in top 3 or top 5 warmest Decembers from late 19th century.  

We have met stations right now in Greece registering monthly average minimums as high as 17C! This is crazy for December even by Greece's standards. 

Don't forget last winter, it was supposedly the coldest on record there...

[Athens Heat]

16 minutes ago, ANYWEATHER said:

Don't forget last winter, it was supposedly the coldest on record there...

Not the coldest. Far from it! Only March was really cold. Yes the rest of the winter last year was below average but only slightly. 

You are confusing the extreme snowfalls seen in North Athens with the Ts. Eastern Greece has the almost unique peculiarity of seeing significant snowfalls with positive Ts, especially in the South and the islands. This is due to the Aegean stream! We have even seen pretty intense snowfalls with Ts as high as 7C or 8C believe it or not!Specially in the South.

Last year downtown Athens only briefly dropped to 0C while South Athens never had a freeze despite seeing significant snowfalls in downtown and north areas.

Edited December 26, 2022 by Athens Heat

[danm]

2 hours ago, Athens Heat said:

Not the coldest. Far from it! Only March was really cold. Yes the rest of the winter last year was below average but only slightly. 

You are confusing the extreme snowfalls seen in North Athens with the Ts. Eastern Greece has the almost unique peculiarity of seeing significant snowfalls with positive Ts, especially in the South and the islands. This is due to the Aegean stream! We have even seen pretty intense snowfalls with Ts as high as 7C or 8C believe it or not!Specially in the South.

Last year downtown Athens only briefly dropped to 0C while South Athens never had a freeze despite seeing significant snowfalls in downtown and north areas.

What is the Aegean stream and why does it allow heavy snowfalls at such high temperatures?

[Athens Heat]

1 hour ago, danm said:

What is the Aegean stream and why does it allow heavy snowfalls at such high temperatures?

Well to be exact its a combination of the cold snaps coming from Siberia heading south to the Balkans and eventually meeting the Aegean sea. 

A few hours before the snow falls start we typically get extremely dry conditions in the E and SE of the country. Dew points fall dramatically, eventually turning negative and when the cold fronts meet the warm closed Aegean sea the Aegean acts as a large lake. Essentially it is pretty similar to a lake effect. Precipitation falls violently with extreme rain rates in many cases. The usual high Ts of SE Greece fall only as the rapidity of the snow falls intensifies. But we are talking about South Greece here. You need exceptional circumstances to actually see low Ts in S. Greece that is why with positive Ts we get some impressive snow falls specially in Crete! These snow falls are short lived but very impressive. Within a few hours Ts recover dramatically and snow thaws almost immediately especially if you are located in SE Greece. Typically snow may settle in coastal areas of S Greece for only a few hours. 

There are of course areas in the extreme SE of Greece that almost never experience this kind of weather. For instance the capital of Kasos island, Fri has never seen settled snow in its meteorological history. The port of Rhodes and Kastelorizo island have never also recorded snow. Basically the SE Dodecanese is almost never influenced by the Aegean stream effect.  Areas that are typically influenced by the Aegean stream effect include anything E of the Pindus mountain range and S of Larisa down to Crete.

Edited December 26, 2022 by Athens Heat

[Athens Heat]

Greece is on the verge of breaking multiple December records not only on a national but also on a European level. The widespread National Observatory of Athens Davis fan aspirated met stations Network speaks volumes...

Already we have areas in South Greece registering 20 days out of the 29 so far in December with maximums over 20C. That's a first in Europe for any reliable  fan aspirated stations during December from a quick search I did.

We have areas again in the South of Greece with average minimum temperatures in December that are over 15C! Most notably in the Port of Rhodes, Lindos, Amorgos island and Kastelorizo. Kastelorizo island in fact has an average minimum temperature of 15.5C so far in December. Values unheard of by Europe's standards....

Most impressively average December temperatures are over 17C in Rhodes and over 17.5C in Kastelorizo! I doubt we have ever seen something similar in Europe for December from fan aspirated stations...

This will be by far the warmest December on record for Greece. Dating back at least from 1890 when we have reliable met observations for the country.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Athens Heat

[Athens Heat]

As 2022 is now over and in order for you guys to comprehend the climatic diversity in Metropolitan Athens check out the two extremes from the National Observatory of Athens Stations 

The coldest annually NOA station in Metropolitan Athens is Dionysos with a simple average annual temperature of 15.8C 

https://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/dionysos/NOAAPRYR.TXT

The warmest annually NOA station in Metropolitan Athens is Nea Smyrni with a simple average annual temperature of 20.3C 

https://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/neasmyrni/NOAAPRYR.TXT

Even warmer is the Glyfada Davis station of the WeatherLink network with a simple average annual temperature of 20.5C

I doubt we have many cities in the world that experience up to 5C differences in average annual temperatures between coldest and warmest spot...

Edited January 2, 2023 by Athens Heat

[Athens Heat]

Well, administratevely speaking Mount Parnitha is also located in Metropolitan Athens and last year registered an average annual T of around 10.9C

https://penteli.meteo.gr/stations/parnitha/NOAAPRYR.TXT

Obviously not a populated area but just to showcase the T differences in Metropolitan Athens between coldest average annual T with 10.9C vs warmest with 20.5C in Glyfada. Almost 10C celcius in such a small area...

[Athens Heat]

So let me try to give a rough summary of how varied the climate of Metropolitan Athens is according to the NOA, HNMS and WeatherLink met networks the past decade:

• Highest average annual temperatures are along the Athens Riviera with slightly over 20.5°C in Glyfada.
• Lowest average annual temperatures are to be found in Parnitha Mountain with slightly less than 11°C 
• Highest average annual precipitation again in Parnitha at around 760 mm 
• Lowest average annual precipitation again in the Athens Riviera with the Athens Marina NOA station recording less than 340 mm
• Highest average maximums in the center of the Athens Basin and W. Athens with slightly over 35°C in July and August in Nea Filadelfeia HNMS station and Salamina NOA
• Highest average minimums are to be found in the Piraeus coastal zone with around 27°C in August
• Highest average winter maximums of around 15°C in January are to be found again in the Athens Riviera
• Highest average winter minimums of around 9°C in January once again in the Athens Riviera
• Lowest average winter maximums in a populated area is around 9°C in January in Dionysos suburb
• Lowest average winter minimums in a populated area is around 4°C in January again in Dionysos
• Lowest average winter maximums for the whole of Metropolitan Athens is around 3°C in January in Parnitha Mountain
• Lowest average winter minimums for the whole of Metropolitan Athens is -1°C in January again in Parnitha Mountain

There are of course more extreme values in the Attica Peninsula, but in areas slightly outside Metropolitan Athens. For example in the Athens Riviera part which is outside Metropolitan Athens the average annual precipitation in Anavyssos NOA station is merely 315 mm the last decade while in Ippokrateios Politeia in North Attica it stands at over 870 mm.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Athens Heat

[Athens Heat]

Below is a list of the stations from the  National Observatory of Athens which present a hot semi-arid BSh climate. Most of them are in Athens Riviera. Tropical plants in these areas will need for sure extra care and more irrigation to survive.

In total 38 meteorological stations from Greece fall under the hot semi-arid BSh climate (data until March 2023).

https://www.meteo.gr/Monthly_Bulletins.cfm

 Here also a map of these locations for better visualisation 

[danm]

@Athens Heat I am in Halkidiki between 10th and 17th June. I know it's far out, but any indications the weather will start to improve by then? I know it has been cooler and duller than usual in that part of the world recently. 

[Athens Heat]

On 19/05/2023 at 17:20, danm said:

@Athens Heat I am in Halkidiki between 10th and 17th June. I know it's far out, but any indications the weather will start to improve by then? I know it has been cooler and duller than usual in that part of the world recently. 

Sorry I was in extended holidays!

It seems it will be slightly cooler than normal. First indications show lower Ts than what is normally expected. But still very early to know

Edited June 4, 2023 by Athens Heat

[danm]

8 minutes ago, Athens Heat said:

Sorry I was in extended holidays!

It seems it will be slightly cooler than normal. First indications show lower Ts than what is normally expected. But still very early to know

No worries! 

Thanks, yep it does look like mid to high 20’s at best at the moment. Things look generally fine and settled this week. Looking at the model runs it does seem like there may be a small fall in pressure next weekend, beyond that hard to say. 
 

Personally I’ll be happy with mid to high 20’s and sunshine and little to no rain. Just don’t want there to be lots of thunderstorms. 

[Summer8906]

Anyone have access to the temp and rainfall stats (relative to norm) for the Julys of these years for the northern part of Greece (or neighbouring countries such as Albania, etc)?

1978; 1980; 1981; 1988; 1992; 1993; 1998; 2007; 2011; 2012

Reason being is that I'm planning on going to Greece next month and on current long range GFS models getting concerned about extreme and silly heat (35C+) as the "red" colours are showing for much of southern Europe at this time. This for me is as difficult as sub-20c temps and excessive cloud and rain, though recognise others may have a different opinion.

Also July in the UK seems to be possibly shaping up to be notably wet and perhaps rather cool by day and I have observed a link between wet, cool-by-day summer weather in the UK and extreme heat in SE Europe. The above list were notable cool and/or wet Julys in the UK so that's why I've picked them.

While I like temps in the 28-30 range I find 35+ too much and prefer sub-20 at night. (A summer with a sunshine and temp profile similar to 1989 or 1995 in the UK, but a bit more thundery, would be the ideal!)

Thanks.

Edited June 22, 2023 by Summer8906

[Athens Heat]

According to the models Greece will be in the eye of one of the most prolonged heat waves in its modern history...

[Scuba steve]

4 minutes ago, Athens Heat said:

According to the models Greece will be in the eye of one of the most prolonged heat waves in its modern history...

Great I’m off to Lefkada in 10 days ,lol

[Athens Heat]

Just now, Scuba steve said:

Great I’m off to Lefkada in 10 days ,lol

You need to be careful. I think this heatwave will have devastating effects in Greece

[Scuba steve]

5 minutes ago, Athens Heat said:

You need to be careful. I think this heatwave will have devastating effects in Greece

More worried for grand kids who are going with us I’m quite used to it having in the recent past of doing the Grand Canyon rim to rim in 100 f +  heat ,kids are notoriously difficult in heat lol