Mountain Weather in Greece

Greece due to its location always has and had unpredictable weather patterns, this article will shed some light into the relative weather conditions such it will help you plan your hiking, mountaineering, and skiing trips in Greece. The weather here is known to be Mediterranean climate effected by time specific conditions and relative locations as well as a plethora of microclimates. Greece shows some general weather patterns by region (each region is about 1/4th of the country) but that is not specific enough.

Since the Pindus mountains exist there exists a weather divide. We can mark the peak of Kakarditsa in the Athamanika mountains east of Ioannina as the middle most Pindos peak, being the natural weather barrier. In general, all locations west of this peak get way more rainfall and more humidity, a great example of this is a comparison of an island in the Ionian Sea with one in the Aegean. This happens due to the rain shadow effect.

The same effect can be seen with Sporades islands, due to the elevation of Dirfis mountain, Pilio mountain and the peaks of Profitis Hlias in both Tinos and Andros islands. Thus, warm, and humid storms heading westwards from the Aegean Sea generally get blocked by these mountains and rarely reach Athens, the Lamia Plain, or the East coast of the Peloponnese. This effect is finally seen in the Peloponnese, with some of its high peaks creating a wet/dry divide across the region.

So, thus in general, we conclude that that the West is more wet, and the East is more arid.

 

 

 

The climate of Greece as a whole is Mediterranean, so that is the general climate if you do not want to go any further. However, there is great variety of localized climates across the country, this both a result of the geography of the country and weather patterns in the region. On the left we have the climatic map of Greece which breaks down the country into 8 climate regions, they follow.

Notable microclimates are, the mountains of Peloponnese (Chelmos, Zhreia, Taygetos) as well as Dirfis, Olympus, Falakro, and all the mountains on Crete. Unique areas can be found on Mytilene island, on the South, as well as on the South coast of Evros, in Thrace, Rodopi mountain range above lake Volvi also has a microclimate. 

 

 

 

There are some very specific weather events that happen throughout Greece, these are sometimes season related, they follow:

Since Greece is the southernmost country in the Balkans it is exposed to a south wind coming directly from Africa, thus southern winds are almost always warm and dry, they usually increase the temperature significantly and thus during the winter these winds are concern for snow conditions, and during the summer these winds produce deadly heatwaves that can reach up to 43C. So, depending on the season and how North your objective is, it may be reasonable to utilize these weather events.

During the winter most storms are the 'Siberian' cold winds coming directly from the Eastern European Plains. These winds bring the cold dry storms that bring snow to Athens and generally the Eastern part of Greece.

(New) Wet Storms

This has been happening more frequently since 2019 and usually takes place from February through May and September through November, these storms bring warm humid clouds from the South Mediterranean and are met with powerful cold fronts from the Black Sea resulting in them being trapped on the East side of the Pindos range. Esentially, a meeting of the two aforementioned weather events. The extreme floods of September 2023 during Storm Daniel were a result of such an event which saw record breaking rainfall on the Lamia plains. While this may have been a historically rare event, due to changing weather patterns it has become more common, and the general level of percipitation on the East of the country including Evia has increased dramatically during storm cycles.

 

 

Greece is known for its high winds and well, unpredictable snowfall. The highest winds usually come from either North (N) or East (E) although there can be high southern winds which most of the time only affect Crete. Winds from the west get blocked by the Pindus mountains. Thus understand that each area is affected by its specific wind. 

The strongest winds are almost always northern or eastern (only during the winter) and western during the summer. 

 

Each mountain has different snowfall patterns, the easiest way to understand where the snow is more windblown, thus where the snow will 'land' is simple. The wind almost always heads inwards from the sea, thus the snow will be in areas where that wind is blocked. So for example we understand that for Parnassos mountain the resort get snow with southern winds, since just south of the resort is a high peak and the sea. 

It usually starts snowing during late-November to mid-December with Olympus, Smolikas, and Dirfis being the first to see snow. The snowfall continues with ski resorts opening around or before New Years, with most of the snowfall now taking place in February to March. The longest snow-cover is on Smolikas and Olympus, with both retaining snow from May to June. Olympus may see dusting from October given extreme weather, but it is highly unlikely for it to see continuous snow cover before November.

During the summer Greece generally has calm weather on land although the islands of the Aegean Sea experience very strong winds after late July until early September (the “meltemia”).  On land it tends to be windy during times with high differences in sea temperature, this is usually from October to November and April to May.

The rain patterns have started to change with rains expected from March to May and September to November. The historic average suggests high relative rainfall during the winter months as well. Although measured in volume, rainfall is more extreme in spring and fall.

There are many weird weather patterns that can be experienced in some of the mountains in Greece.

• Until late December mountains east of Chelmos in Peloponnese are quite arid,
• Dirfi west face is skiable from mid December after a storm,
• During early spring the weather in the North Aegean and Cyclades islands is mainly stormy,
• The last snow-patches melt on Olympus during June,
• There are turns to be had until late May at a number of mountains on good seasons,
• The weather in the Vikos Gorge region is very unstable during the summer and generates near daily thunderstorms at around 3pm.

Extreme Cold

There are multiple locations known for their extreme winter conditions, these locations are usually 'boxed' with high mountains. Examples: Tripoli, Tsapelovo, Lake Volvi etc.

The coldest temperature recorded has been in Ptolemaida at -27.8C.