The wave of bad weather “Elpis” is in full swing, with snow covering many areas of the country while the temperature has dropped precipitously.

The first snows have already appeared in the mountains of the prefecture of Attica, as Penteli, Ymittos, Parnitha, Hippocrates Politia were dressed in white from early Saturday morning, while from noon the first flakes began to fall in the northern suburbs of Attica.

Due to the snowfall and the extremely low temperatures, vehicles in many parts of the road network can only move with anti-skid chains, while in some others traffic has been completely stopped.

In particular, due to the snowfall, Parnithos Avenue is closed, from the height of the cable car to both traffic streams. Athens – Thebes Avenue is also closed for trucks at the height of the “Cyclon” gas station in the traffic flow to Thebes.

Local rains are expected in the Cyclades, Crete, and the Dodecanese, while Crete and the Dodecanese might also experience thunderstorms accompanied by small hail.

The phenomena on the mainland in the afternoon will weaken and sunshine is forecast, however, they will continue mainly in the southern islands and in Crete, wherewith the parallel drop of the temperature after the afternoon, the local snowfall in the mountains will occur over 600- 800 meters.

In the early hours of Saturday night there is a possibility of local rains or sleet and possibly thunderstorms in the lowland and coastal parts of the Ionian, local snowfall in the mountains and semi-mountains above 300-400 meters , while local snowfall is likely to occur even in parts of Epirus and the Western Mainland.

During the night towards the dawn of Sunday, local rains or sleet are possible in the lowlands and coastal and local snowfalls over 300-400 meters in the western parts of the Peloponnese, while snowfalls in Evia and the North Aegean are expected to intensify.

The state services are on full alert to deal with bad weather.

Yesterday afternoon, a meeting by the competent bodies to lay out a plan of action was held under the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Christos Stylianidis , in the presence of the Minister of State, Akis Skertsos, for the optimal coordination of all involved services in view of the bad weather that is expected to hit the country until Thursday.

Minister Stylianidis stressed that all agencies will be on full alert day and night throughout the bad weather and stressed that the entire mechanism will do everything to keep the country functional.