Early summer into spring is in store for March just before handing over to April with temperatures hovering at very high levels for the season over the next four days.
Athens Observatory research director Kostas Lagovardos described the weather as an “April Fools’ joke” as temperatures will be up to 16 degrees higher than normal for the season. In fact, the maps he quotes in his Facebook post are red, showing the high heat that is expected.
“Like an April Fool’s joke… After the very high temperatures in Southern Greece on Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28/03, a new very significant rise in temperature is expected on April Fool’s Day!” he says.
Apart from Greece, temperatures will be very high in parts of the USA, eastern Canada and Greenland.
In extremely warm for the season air masses in Eastern Europe and our country from Sunday 31 March to Tuesday 2 April, refers to meteo.gr. Indicatively, on Monday afternoon the air masses over our country will be up to 15-16 degrees Celsius higher than normal for the season, while the African dust is not expected to subside before Tuesday, April 2.
Using the temperature deviation at the 850 hPa isobaric level (about 1500 metres above sea level), a level used to monitor the gas masses, air masses over parts of Eastern Europe are expected to be up to 17-18 degrees Celsius higher than normal for the season.
As can be seen in the graph below, where we focus on our region, we note that on Monday afternoon 01/04 the air masses over our country will be up to 15-16 degrees Celsius higher than normal for the season.
It is worth pointing out that surface temperatures and how high they will reach depends on many factors, such as cloud cover and wind, but with current data the temperature at the beginning of next week is likely to approach or even exceed 30 degrees Celsius in parts of the mainland.
The weather today
The weather is expected to be generally clear with localised clouds. During the night and early morning visibility will be locally limited.
The temperature will range in Western Macedonia from 3 to 22 degrees Celsius, in the rest of Northern Greece from 4 to 27 degrees Celsius, in Epirus from 5 to 24 degrees Celsius, in Thessaly from 5 to 26 degrees Celsius, in the rest of the mainland from 4 to 26 degrees Celsius, in the Ionian Islands from 6 to 22 degrees Celsius and in the island parts of the Aegean from 7 to 25-26 degrees Celsius, while in Crete the maximum will reach 27 degrees Celsius in some places.
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The winds in the Ionian Sea will blow from southeastern directions with intensities up to 4-5 Beaufort.
In the Central and North Aegean the winds will blow from southerly directions with intensities up to 3 Beaufort, while in the South Aegean the winds will blow generally light from various directions with intensities up to 2-3 Beaufort.
