Greece Braces For Stormy Weather

Greece braces for stormy weather as the Ilina weather front approaches from Italy in the first days of April.

Meteorologists expect Ilina to hit Greece from west to east by Monday morning, April 3.

The weather front is already affecting central and southern Italy, and will be moving towards Greece within the next few hours.

The National Observatory of Athens forecasts locally severe thunderstorms which will be accompanied by a drop in temperature, hail and very strong gusty winds.

Rainfall will leave significant amounts of rain in places and heavy snowfall is forecast for continental highlands.

Ηigh frequency of lightning is also expected while the extreme weather phenomena last.

Storms forecast across Greece on Monday

An emergency bulletin issued on Sunday by the National Meteorological Service of Greece (EMY) warned that heavy rain and storms will hit the Ionian Sea on Monday morning and the western areas of Greece from Macedonia down to the Peloponnese by noon.

The bad weather will then affect central Macedonia, Thessaly, and central Greece during the afternoon hours.

In the evening, Ilina will bring heavy rain and storms to eastern Macedonia, Thrace, the islands of the eastern and northern Aegean and the Dodecanese.

EMY warned citizens in the northern parts of Thessaly and Central Macedonia (mainly Pieria) as well as in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace to be especially careful on Monday late afternoon, as “usually these areas are vulnerable to this type of weather.”

The intense phenomena will continue on Tuesday, affecting the Cyclades islands, Crete, southern Evia and southern Peloponnese in the morning, as well as central and eastern Macedonia and Thrace until noon.

The islands of the northern and eastern Aegean and the Dodecanese will also experience bad weather until Tuesday night.

Strong south southeastwinds of intensity 7 to 8 Beaufort will prevail in the eastern Aegean from Monday until the early hours of Tuesday, the bulletin added.

These southern winds will prevent a sharp drop in temperature, and so snowfall will be limited to continental highlands only.

Ilina brings snow to Italy in spring

In the meantime, the Ilina weather front is battering southern Italy, bringing snow to the islands in the spring, as Catholic Christians celebrate Palm Sunday.

Snow fell on the island of Sardinia on Sunday, April 2, where the temperature was over 20 degrees Celsius on Saturday.

“Plenty of snow” was also forecast for Sicily’s highlands on Sunday, according to Meteoweb.eu.

Ilina is expected to move east during the evening hours of Sunday, passing from Calabria towards the Adriatic Sea in the direction to Greece.