New storm brings rain and thunderstorms to Crete overnight into Saturday, Meteo forecasts
A new spell of unsettled weather is forecast to reach Crete overnight into Saturday, October 17, bringing rain and scattered thunderstorms along with a temporary drop in temperatures, according to Meteo, the forecasting service of the National Observatory of Athens.
Meteo said a temporary change in the weather would affect mainly eastern and southern Greece and the Aegean on Friday, October 16, with the most intense phenomena expected in those areas. Temporary snowfall was forecast for mountainous inland areas, while temperatures were expected to fall briefly across the country.
Locally strong winds are expected to blow in the Aegean and the northern Ionian Sea as the system moves through the region.
Phenomena move south through the day
According to the forecast, local cloud cover will initially affect many areas before thickening quickly in the north, east and over the Aegean. Rain is expected to spread gradually across Eastern Macedonia, Thrace, Chalkidiki, the Sporades and Evia.
After midday, the rain is forecast to extend into central, eastern and southern mainland areas as well as Evia, with thunderstorms expected mainly in Chalkidiki, the Sporades and Evia. The Cyclades are expected to be affected by evening, before the system reaches the Dodecanese and Crete overnight into Saturday. This follows a separate forecast warning that a new storm could drop Chania’s average October rainfall within 48 hours.
Temperatures and winds
Meteo’s regional breakdown put temperatures in Crete and the rest of the Aegean islands between 11 and 19–21 degrees Celsius. In the Aegean, winds are expected to blow from the north at 4 to 5 Beaufort, locally reaching 6 Beaufort. In the Ionian Sea, north to northwesterly winds of 4 to 5 Beaufort are forecast, locally strong at 6 Beaufort in the northern sea areas.
The forecast comes after a week in which Crete faced successive weather warnings, including an earlier alert for winds up to 8 Beaufort and rain through Thursday from the national weather service, EMY. Forecasters had separately said conditions were expected to improve, even as saturated ground kept flood risk elevated across parts of the island.
Despite the overnight rain, Meteo’s outlook for the following day pointed to a partial recovery, with highs near 27C expected in Crete on Saturday alongside local rain in the mountains.
