Extreme Weather to Hit Greece This Weekend

Greece is expected to face severe weather over the weekend, with heavy rains and strong winds that will reach their peak on Saturday, December 11.

The country’s National Meteorological Service upgraded a weather warning issued on Thursday to an “alarm” level on Friday, citing “dangerous weather phenomena” including winds and torrential rainfall over the weekend.

The Ionian Islands will be hit with particularly heavy rainfall and strong winds. The winds may reach nine or ten on the Beaufort scale. Winds are expected to reach eight or nine Beaufort in the Aegean Sea.

On Saturday morning, the Ionian Islands, Epirus, and Central Greece are expected to be hit with thunderstorms. The storms are then expected to then move toward the Peloponnese and Thessaly.

Heavy rains, winds in Greece over the weekend

Attica, home to Athens, as well as Evia, Eastern Macedonia, Thrace, and the islands of the Aegean Sea will face high winds and rain from Saturday afternoon through the evening.

The strong storms are expected to die down across Greece on Sunday.

Additionally, the Meteo weather service of the National Observatory of Athens announced Friday that the Saronic Gulf, Attica, and Evia will experience strong southern winds on Friday night through to Saturday.

These strong winds may bring with them dangerously high waves in the Saronic Gulf and off the coast of Evia, where waves are expected to reach heights of five to six meters (16 to 19 feet) and four to five meters (13 to 16 feet), respectively.

Greece hit by extreme weather in late November

Greece was hit by severe weather in late November when several parts of western Greece were hit by strong tornadoes, destructive landslides, and heavy rain, causing damage to buildings and flooding on many roads throughout the region.

Particularly hard-hit was the Ionian island of Zakynthos. Several hotels were damaged when a tornado hit the area of Kalamaki, which is a popular tourist resort in the summer.

No injuries were reported, but many buildings and homes suffered damage after the severe weather.

Unusually harsh weather also hit the city of Zakynthos, Argassi, and Vasiliko, where houses and businesses were flooded, while tons of mud closed the provincial road leading from Argassi to Vasiliko. Gale-force winds and torrential rains caused landslides in other parts of the island as well.

The severe weather also hit further west on mainland Greece, causing landslides in the city of Nafpaktos. Two police cars that had been parked at the foot of a hill were badly damaged.