Greece’s weather service (EMY) on Monday afternoon issued an urgent announcement warning of severe phenomena over the coming 48-hour period, mainly thunderstorms, hail and intense lightning strikes.

The weather front will affect much of western and mainland Greece, the western Peloponnese and the southern Ionian islands.

At the same time, the greater Athens-Piraeus area, where roughly half the country’s population resides, isn’t forecast to face more serious inclement weather.

While the severe weather warning is always an ominous development, protracted precipitation is required in Greece over the coming winter period due to less than average rainfall and snowfall in the country over the past year.