A heatwave that hit Greece on Tuesday and continues on Wednesday has set a new record for the first week of June, the Meteo weather service said.
Temperatures on Tuesday topped 39 degrees Celsius in three areas of Greece. According to data from the National Observatory of Athens’ network of automatic weather stations, in the Elefsina area of Attica and in Thiva, in central Greece, temperatures climbed to 39.3 degrees Celsius.
In the area of Psachna, on the island of Evia, the weather service recorded 39.1 degrees Celsius.
The previous record for the same period was recorded on June 8, 2019, in Trikala, central Greece, at 39.2 degrees Celsius.
Longest heatwave in the summer of 2023
Scientists have warned of a hot summer in Greece with severe and regular heatwaves.
Last July, a record-breaking 46.4 Celsius was recorded at Gytheio, located in the Peloponnese region. This set a new record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Greece since records began in 2006.
At Kranidi, also in Peloponnese the second highest temperature was recorded at 45.9.
Last year’s heatwave became the longest in the country’s recorded history, according to a senior official with the National Observatory.
“According to the data, we will probably go through 16-17 days of a heatwave, which has never happened before in our country,” Kostas Lagouvardos, the director of research at the National Observatory, told ERT television.
Scientists say climate change is making heat waves longer, more intense, and more frequent.
“The extreme weather—an increasingly frequent occurrence in our warming climate—is having a major impact on human health, ecosystems, economies, agriculture, energy and water supplies,” said World Meteorological Organization MO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas recently.
“We have to step up efforts to help society adapt to what is, unfortunately, becoming the new normal,” he added.
It underscores the urgency of cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and as drastically as possible.
Heatwaves expected after the warmest winter in Greece
Greece has experienced the warmest winter on record this year according to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), analyzed by the scientific team of meteo.gr.
Specifically, the 2023 to 2024 winter, lasting from December 2023 to February 2024, in Greece was marked by extended periods of high temperatures, significantly surpassing seasonal norms.
Meteo reports that the winter of 2023 to 2024 was recorded as the warmest in Greek history, surpassing the winter of 2015 to 2016.
The average maximum temperature in Greece during the winter period has risen by 1.8°C from 1960 to 2024.
In Northern Greece, the average maximum temperature for the winter of 2023 to 2024 ranged 2 to 3 Celsius above the mean of the 1991 to 2020 period, while in the rest of the country, it ranged from 1 to 2 degrees Celsius higher.
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