A civil defense notification warning of severe weather was sent via SMS to residents in the central Greece province of Thessaly, the south-central prefecture of Fthiotida, the large island of Evia and the Sporades Island chain off the eastern seaboard.
Roughly the same regions were battered by record-breaking rain and accompanying flooding in early September 2023, during the devastating storm “Daniel”. The current low front has been christened “Alexandros”.
Although less-than-average precipitation has plagued much of the country over the past year and rain is welcome, it is the intense thunderstorms – or snowfall – over a short period of time that has meteorologists and civil defense authorities concerned, with images of the deadly flooding in Valencia, Spain, still fresh on residents’ minds.
The current cold front is expected to affect most parts of Greece some 30 hours.
Gusty winds will are forecast for the seas, while the greater Athens-Piraeus region – where roughly half the country’s population resides – is not expected to see intense phenomena.