Greece’s National Meteorological Service (EMY) has issued an emergency weather deterioration bulletin, forecasting heavy rain and thunderstorms from Friday evening, starting in the northwest of the country, with a chance of localised hail. The unsettled spell is expected to last until Sunday.

The first bands of severe weather are due to reach Corfu, the northwestern region of Epirus and western Central Greece on Friday evening (25 September), continuing until late into the night.

On Saturday, the storms will move over the rest of the Ionian Islands from the early hours until midday. From midday into the evening, they will shift to the Peloponnese and the island of Kythera, with the regions of Messinia, Laconia and eastern Arcadia likely to bear the brunt.

By Sunday, the bad weather will reach Evia, the large island northeast of Athens, where heavy downpours are forecast from the early hours until midday.

The warning comes days after an earlier EMY bulletin, issued on Tuesday, flagged heavy rain, thunderstorms with frequent lightning and possible hail across the wider northwest Aegean.