The first day of October hit Greece with a gust of cold across the country, with some areas in the Northwest experiencing temperatures below zero. The lowest temperature on Tuesday was recorded in Vovousa in the regional unit of Ioannina at -1.1 °C. But Variko Florina and Vlasti Kozani also both clocked sub-zero numbers.
Colder temperatures are expected across Europe this coming winter, compared with last year’s markedly warm season. It is expected that “La Niña”– a cycle of cool sea-surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific which impacts temperatures and rainfall globally– will remain in action until at least January 2025, and perhaps through March, bringing cooler weather to Europe along with it.
Last winter was the warmest on record in Greece, with daily and monthly highs far above normal. Thus cooler temperatures this year do not indicate a return to the winters of past decades, rather a slight pause in the record-breaking increase in local and global temperatures.
“The season is forecast to be warmer than the 10-year normal and 30-year normal, but colder than last year,” Maxar meteorologist Matthew Dross told Bloomberg.
Greece’s 2024 summer was again one of frequent and long-lasting heat waves, and fires burning from Athens to the islands. According to Meteo.gr, June and July 2024 were the hottest on record for Greece, while August was recorded as the 2nd hottest, only behind August 2021.
