Only ten days in, this January has already proven to be Athens’ hottest in at least 160 years, according to data from the National Observatory of Athens which was released Monday.
The country is reveling in the unseasonably warm winter weather, with many Greeks rushing to the beach in an effort to cool off and also to get out of the house during lockdown.
In the earliest days of January, temperatures in Greece’s capital city ranged from 18.3 degrees Celsius (65 degrees Fahrenheit) to 12.1 degrees Celsius (54 degrees F), with an average temperature of 14.8 degrees Celsius (59 F).
These temperatures are considerably warmer than what is commonly found in the city in the wintertime, and amount to the warmest temperatures recorded during the period in the city in over one and a half centuries.
With temperatures reaching 22.2 (72 degrees F) on January 9, the city of Athens recorded its hottest day in January in the 160 years that the National Observatory of Athens has been recording such data.
Temperatures across the country climbed to 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees F) in areas of the Greek mainland this weekend, while northern Crete saw toasty temperatures of 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees F).
According to Greece’s METEO weather service, January’s temperatures are as much as 15 degrees Celsius higher than normal for this season, which is traditionally the coldest time of the year.
The hottest temperature ever to be recorded in January in Greece was 30.4 degrees Celsius (86 degrees F).
Last year, along with 2016, was already the hottest year on record, attesting to the devastating impact of climate change on global temperatures.
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