A major plume of Saharan dust that has affected much of Greece is expected to subside during the course of Wednesday, the National Observatory of Athens’ DUST/METEO service said.
WEATHER
Skies over southern Greece turned an orange hue on Tuesday as dust clouds blown across the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa engulfed the Acropolis and other Athens landmarks.
Athens and southern parts of the country were again enveloped in Saharan dust on Tuesday, with hues of yellow and orange creating an otherworldly atmosphere.
Europe is increasingly facing bouts of heat so intense that the human body cannot cope, as climate change continues to raise temperatures, the EU’s Copernicus climate monitoring service and the World Meteorological Organization said on Monday.
Thessaly in central Greece and the Sporades Islands off Evia were the regions affected by the heavy rainfall and thunderstorms that swept in on Friday, the National Observatory of Athens’ weather service Meteo said on Saturday.
Residents in the regions of Halkidiki, Thessaly, Magnesia, Lesvos, the Sporades and northern Evia have been warned to limit their movements from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon due to expected thunderstorms and gale-force winds.
After the unseasonal balmy temperatures over the last few days, the weather will deteriorate in most parts of the country beginning on Friday until Saturday, with gale-force winds, rainstorms, lightning and local hail, according to a bulletin issued by the National Meteorological Service (EMY) on Thursday afternoon.
Significant rain will hit large parts of Greece from Friday to Saturday afternoon, the National Meteorological Service (EMY) said in emergency bulletin issued on Thursday.
Temperatures exceeded 30 Celsius in many parts of the country on Monday, with the highest recorded in Trikala, central Greece (32.7C), according to data drawn from the network of weather stations of the National Observatory.
The reconstructed Fylla Bridge on Evia, which was damaged by floods in 2020, reopened on Friday.
The world is getting hotter and humanity will have to shield itself against the new conditions in the coming years, according to Spyros Pandis, professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Patras and researcher at the Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences of the Technology and Research Foundation in Greece (FORTH).
Temperatures will soar above 30°C in some parts of mainland Greece from Sunday when an extremely warm air mass from Africa is expected to move over the country and eastern Europe.
The highest concentrations of African dust were recorded in southern Greece on Thursday, according to the National Observatory of Athens.
High concentrations of Saharan dust that enveloped most of Greece on Wednesday are to remain Thursday and Friday, heaviest in the west and south of the country. Experts warn that bacteria, fungi and pollen can be embedded in African dust.
Swathes of Greece were shrouded in haze on Wednesday as persistent southerly winds carried waves of dust from the African continent across the eastern Mediterranean. The phenomenon is expected to persist on Thursday.
Nearly 400 passengers traveling between Cyprus and Crete experienced delays and a good deal of hassle after gale-force winds caused their flights to be rerouted on Tuesday.
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