South Crete logs second-windiest summer in 13 years, with gusts reaching 114 km/h
South Crete experienced its second-windiest summer in 13 years in 2026, according to data from the National Observatory of Athens weather station in Plakias, which also recorded the strongest summer wind gust ever measured at the site.
Of the summer’s 92 days, 64 were marked by strong northerly winds, meaning South Crete faced significantly reinforced winds on roughly two out of every three days of the season.
Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the National Observatory of Athens, said the Plakias station, which has operated for 13 years, was used as the reference point for the comparison. Only 2022 recorded more days of strong wind, with 67, compared with 64 this year.
Record gust of 114 km/h at Plakias
Frequency was not the only factor that set this summer apart. On July 30, the Plakias station recorded a gust reaching 114 km/h, a speed corresponding to roughly 11 on the Beaufort scale.
According to Lagouvardos, this was the strongest summer gust ever recorded at that station. The date of the extreme reading coincided with a large wildfire then burning in South Rethymno. A similar coincidence occurred in 2022, the windiest year of the 13-year reference period, when major wildfires also broke out in South Crete.
The observation highlights the significance of very strong winds during the fire-risk season, though the data do not establish a causal link between the wind readings and the outbreak of the fires, the report noted. Civil protection authorities in Crete have issued wildfire alerts repeatedly through the summer as conditions combined heat and strong winds.
Rise in days with strong meltemi winds
Scientists are increasingly focused on a trend that has become more noticeable over roughly the past five years: an increase in the number of days with strong meltemi winds in the Aegean, which translate into particularly strong winds in South Crete as well. Such conditions have already produced gusts above 100 km/h in the Lasithi and Rethymno regions this year.
The meltemia are linked to the difference in atmospheric pressure between systems over the Balkans and those over eastern Turkey and the Middle East. Researchers are examining whether the arrangement and intensity of these systems may be affected by climate change, increasing the pressure difference and, as a result, strengthening the meltemia.
For now, however, this remains an indication under investigation rather than a definitive scientific conclusion. Lagouvardos said it still needs to be established whether the trend of recent years is becoming a permanent feature or represents a temporary fluctuation.
Crete moves toward autumn conditions
Meanwhile, the weather pattern is expected to begin shifting. According to Lagouvardos, temperatures will drop next week to levels considered normal for the season, marking Crete’s entry into more autumnal conditions. The first rains of the season are also not ruled out in the coming period, gradually ending the island’s prolonged summer weather. Forecasters have already noted that northerly winds reaching 8 Beaufort are set to accompany the seasonal transition.
