Greece Weather & Climate

The main Greece climate regions are the mainland mountains, Attica (the southeasternmost part of the mainland) and the Aegean, the west including the Ionian Islands, and the continental northeast.

The variety in Greece weather is due to the influence of the topography of Greece (great mountain chains along the central part and other mountainous bodies) on the air masses coming from the moisture sources of the central Mediterranean Sea.

Elevation has an appreciable effect on temperature and precipitation at all latitudes. At higher elevations in the interior of Greece, some rainfall occurs year-round, and higher mountains in the southern Peloponnese and on Crete are snowcapped for several months of the year. The mountains of Macedonia and Thrace have colder continental winters influenced by winds channeled through the river valleys from the north.

Greece Weather - Temperatures in Greece

	Athens	Corfu	Heraklion	Rhodes	Santorini	Thessaloniki
JAN	10,3	9,7	12,1	11,8	11,2	5,0
FEB	10,7	10,3	12,3	12,0	11,2	6,6
MAR	12,4	12,0	13,6	13,6	12,6	9,7
APR	16,0	15,0	16,6	16,6	15,5	14,2
ΜΑY	20,7	19,6	20,3	20,6	19,1	19,4
JUN	25,1	23,8	24,3	24,7	23,3	24,2
JUL	27,9	26,4	26,1	26,9	25,4	26,5
AUG	27,7	26,2	26,0	27,0	24,8	25,9
SEP	24,2	22,7	23,4	24,6	22,5	21,7
OCT	19,4	18,4	20,0	20,6	19,0	16,1
NOV	15,5	14,3	16,7	16,5	15,4	11,0
DEC	12,2	11,2	13,9	13,4	12,7	6,8

Links: Temperature Convenrter  |   Summer in Greece

Greece Weather Seasons

From the weather point of view, the year in Greece can be broadly subdivided into two main periods:

• The cold and rainy period lasting from mid-October until the end of March

During this period the coldest months are January and February, with, a minimum temperature ranging, on average, between 5 -10 degrees Celsius near the coasts of Greece and 0 – 5 Celsius over the mainland of Greece. The lower temperatures (generally below freezing) are observed in the northern part of the country.

Long stretches of consecutive rainy days are infrequent in Greece, even during the winter, and the sky does not remain cloudy for more than a few days in a row, as it does in other regions of the world. “Bad weather” days in winter are often interrupted, during January and the first fortnight of February, with sunny days, known as ‘Halcyon days’ since ancient times. The winter is milder in the Aegean and Ionian Islands compared to Northern and Eastern mainland Greece.

• The warm and dry season lasting from April until September

During the warm and dry period Greece weather is usually stable, the sky is clear, the sun is bright and there is generally no rainfall. There are, however, infrequent and brief intervals of rapid rain or thunderstorms chiefly in northern and western Greece.

The period with the warmest weather in Greece occurs during the last ten days of July and the first ten days of August, when the mean maximum temperature lies between 29.0 and 35.0 degrees Celsius. During the warm period the high temperatures are tempered by fresh sea breezes in the coastal areas of the country and from the north winds, known as "Etesian" or "Meltemi", blowing mainly in the south Aegean sea.

Greece Weather Forecast

There are many sites on Internet offering a Greece weather forecast.

This Greece weather forecast comes from the National Center of Marine Research and it uses easy-to-understand graphics to display information about the Surface Wind, Rainfall, Snowfall, Cloudiness, Air temperature, Fog and Atmospheric Pressure.

Visit the page of "Poseidon" Greece weather forecast

 

Other sites with Greece Weather forecasts

• Yahoo Greece Weather Forecast offers forecasts for almost every region in Greece
• Greece Weather Forecast by Weather Underground
• Greece Weather Forecast by BBC
• Greece Weather Forecast by NTUA, the National Technical University of Athens (Athens Polytechnic)