Weather news from Greece

[matty40s]

 

[Athens Heat]

46.4C today in Gytheio WMO station

Europe's record for 2023 so far

[alexisj9]

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

 

Anyone who thinks this is normal for Greece in summer needs to give their head a wobble I think. Hope people over there will be alright.

[Athens Heat]

Some other notable Ts yesterday apart from the 46.4C in Gytheio NOA

45.9 Amfissa NOA

45.9 Kranidi NOA

45.7 Pyrgela HNMS

45.4 Nea Filadelfeia HNMS

45.4 Kato Tithorea HNMS

45.4 Krokees NOA

45.4 Ag. Theodoroi NOA

45.3 Stylida NOA

45.1 Kalamata NOA

45.0 West Kalamata NOA

45.0 OAKA HNMS

[LeeKay/]

From Rhodes, via the only live cam i can see:

Clearly its the smog venting out to the SE of the island due to the fires.

This was took from Charaki.

Live stream is here, its up and down, given the current situation.

https://cycloneofrhodes.com/cyclone-cameras/

[Skullzrulerz]

 

 

 

[markyo]

Watch: Drone shows fire-ravaged Rhodes

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

---

Greece is grappling with devastating wildfires that have forced thousands to flee their homes and hotels.

Shows the scale of the damage, fingers crossed the worst of the heat is over for large swathes of the Med.

[weatherobsuk]

RIP to the crew of that Canadair CL-215 (CL-415?) from what I believe the majority of these fires in Greece have been caused by Arsonists, hopefully when the inbred/s are soon caught they're additionally charged with murder. It boils my blood when people intentionally set uncontrolled fires whilst knowing full-well the consequences of what they're doing, whether it's in the Peak District, Greece, America, or anywhere else.

[Jo Farrow]

Some of the press releases are in English 

https://civilprotection.gov.gr/

from the Hellenic fire brigade 

Edited July 25, 2023 by Jo Farrow
fire

[matty40s]

 

[Summer8906]

On 23/07/2023 at 14:22, alexisj9 said:

Anyone who thinks this is normal for Greece in summer needs to give their head a wobble I think. Hope people over there will be alright.

Normal for Thessaloniki according to Wikipedia is 32 max, 20 min in midsummer - so definitely not!

Been here a month now, thankfully no fires where I am (county of Pieria, on slopes of Olympus).

However that Sunday (23rd) was certainly extremely hot, guessing around 37-38. In general the period from the 12th-26th was very hot, with maxima locally perhaps around 33-36 (interpolating from those Thessaloniki figures, mean max here should be around 30 as it's out in the countryside at 300m-400m elevation). There were other heat spikes around Friday 14th and Tuesday 18th, and a less hot but incredibly humid period on Tues 25/Wed 26.

Even in the cooler spells it's been around 30-32, so in sharp contrast to the extraordinarily wet, dull and cool UK there has been just about nothing below average in the past month (arrived on July 6th).

No days with prolonged cloudy spells either, though it's been a little bit cloudier this past week at times.

EDIT - as I've been typing this some patchy Ac has invaded.

The 27th featured a sudden cooldown (to around 30c max, but with very low humidity, and I actually felt cold in 24c temps around 10pm on a couple of nights!) and while there have been a few hot humid days in the past week it hasn't really been extreme since then. Today it's humid and warm but rather breezy with southwesterlies - an unusual wind direction for the summer I gather, though they've been quite persistent these past few days.

Also no rain at all, not even a drop - again according to Wiki there should be around 6 days of measurable rain per month this time of year, so very dry even for here. Last rain I saw was on July 5th, exactly a month ago, in the UK. This is I believe the longest period without rain I've ever experienced - there was a rainless spell here this time last year from July 10th-August 6th but we've now of course beaten that.

Distant Cbs were observed on perhaps 3 or 4 days (including the 23rd) and a nearby Cb formed over Olympus on the 20th, producing audible thunder - but no rain whatsoever and not even any significantly cloudy spells.

I was here this time last year and this year is definitely more extreme.

As an aside I wonder if the very warm seas could see a thundery start to autumn here, if cool uppers start penetrating south (as they often do IMX in September)?

Edited August 5, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

Update on the last post as quite a bit has happened since.

Very shortly after sending the last post on Saturday evening, some thundery weather suddenly arrived from the west (the mountains had obscured it). One fairly small but potent thunderstorm passed just north of here on a WSW-ENE trajectory between around 1900 and 2000 local time. It finally broke the long rainless spell here, though only about 5 mins of light rain so perhaps not measurable. Nonetheless it ended a 30-day stretch when I hadn't experienced any rain whatsoever.

Other places not too far away got considerably more.

This was likely on a cold front as since then the weather has become incredibly clear with excellent visibility, better than even the earlier cooler spells. Extremely low RH and "fresh", though it's still distinctly warm, around 30 or 31C today. Hot in the sun but cool and pleasant in the shade, with a bit of a breeze. I suspect night lows will drop below 20 though. Today is almost the perfect day for here, deep blue skies, fair-weather Cu dotted around, and incredible visibility - comparable to an Arctic northerly back home. I think this is the "cool" weather which has impacted much of Europe recently finally finding its way down here, wind is from the NW so I guess this could ultimately be the Greek summer version of a Pm airmass from the far North Atlantic?

This week looks cooler, still, with maxima around 28 or 29, probably the lowest it's been since I've been here. Also a suggestion of rain midweek so guessing there will be some troughs in the flow - potential for some thundery activity perhaps? That is in fact a feature of cooler interludes in summer here, one day can be very sunny and clear, the next day, thundery showers develop - more so than in the hot and humid periods, ironically.

Given the tendency I've observed for Greek weather to be the polar opposite of that of the UK (e.g. July 2023 was very hot and dry, June 2023 apparently wet and relatively cloudy) I fully expect Thursday to be very wet and relatively cool.

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

A notable rain event currently underway in certain parts of Greece, named Storm Daniel.

Here (in the county of Pieria near the city of Katerini) there has been almost continuous rain, with a few short breaks, since around dawn yesterday. Occasional thunder and heavier bursts, and temperatures unusually cold for the time of year, only around 19C from what I gather. So for two days I'm sampling typical July 2023 UK weather! (though I don't think the UK was very thundery, it was just cool breezy Atlantic stuff)

There has been some bad flooding in the city of Volos, a little further south.

As often seems to happen here, and in contrast to northwestern or central Europe, this rainfall event did not follow a notably hot or humid spell. I've noticed that almost all rain events in the summer here occur following "pleasant" warm sunny days with average temperatures (for here) and low or moderate humidity, whereas the oppressive heat and humidity (such as that of July) is rarely broken by notable rain or storms.

Indeed the period August 30-September 3 was very pleasant with warm days (28-30C or so max) and low humidity - though immediately before that it had been rather hot and humid.

Not sure how this particular system developed but I'm guessing most of them develop when cooler air from N or NW Europe extends into the region and destabilises over the very warm seas. I did notice Ci/Cs spill across from the NW on Sunday evening.

Another example, less severe than the current system, was the 24-hour spell of severe thunderstorms followed by continuous rain over the period July 7-8 last year. Again, the preceding days had just been pleasantly warm and sunny, not oppressively hot.

Not sure if this system is linked to the notable floods in the Alpine area around a week ago, or the following wave of cold air which extended from the UK into much of continental Europe last week.

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by Summer8906

[Red Raven]

 

 

[topo]

 

[danm]

 

[Summer8906]

Daniel was quite devastating here in Greece, producing flooding in the low-lying Thessaly area unlike anything I've ever seen in the UK. On the TV I have seen houses partly submerged in water, including parts of the city of Larisa, and especially in the Karditsa region. Vast tracts of the countryside have been underwater.

I was not badly affected where I am but this ranks alongside the October 1987 storm, in my view, for most notable weather event of my lifetime.

Here, it rained for the majority of time for 4 straight days from Mon 4th to Thurs 7th, often heavy. Each day had a remission of about 6 hours or so. The problem seemed to be that the low, and consequently the rainband, did not move. Most of the time it was non-thundery though there was thunder on Mon 4th and Thurs 7th.

Eventually the whole thing cleared away on the 8th and there followed a period of about 5 days with deep blue skies and very low humidity, a very nice period of weather. Since then there's been a little more cloud around but still very nice.

After the severe heatwaves of July, September post-Daniel is proving to be very "mild" (in the American sense of lack of strong heat) and stable, with almost-invarying temperatures day after day. The max every day seems to be around 27 or 28, with evenings around 23 and mins in the high teens. Nothing higher than about 30 in September, which is unusual for here I believe, and none forecast for the next week. I've become so accustomed to warm temperatures, though, that the evenings feel chilly!

I've been able to stay longer than anticipated and, given how dull and wet this week looks in the UK (I've seen reports of flooding in the SW though nothing like as bad as Daniel) I'm glad about that. Hoping that the dry weather and temps in the low to mid 20s next week in the UK does come off, it would be very nice indeed to come home to continued warmth and fine weather.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Summer8906

[matty40s]

Unfortunately, it seems another cut off Low is going to do the same again to the same area of Greece. 

 

[matty40s]

 

[matty40s]

Oh dear.

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by matty40s

[matty40s]

 

[OddSpot]

Live webcam from Volos....wow

 

[matty40s]

 

[matty40s]

 

[Penguin16]

45 minutes ago, matty40s said:

 

It’s saying not found?