File photo.
The first snowfalls of the season have arrived in Greece, covering high-altitude areas of Mount Olympus, Kaimaktsalan, and Falakro on the night from Wednesday to Thursday. Snow cover was expected to expand further Thursday night into Friday as temperatures dropped sharply.
“Early October snow is extremely rare in Greece,” Stavros Dafis, a researcher at the National Observatory of Athens’ METEO group, told Kathimerini.
According to Dafis, only four previous years – 1983, 1989, 1995, and 2002 – recorded similarly low temperatures in early October, though it is unclear whether snow fell then. The last somewhat extensive October snowfall occurred in late October 2017.
It remains uncertain whether this unusual early-season snow is an anomaly or a sign of a wetter, snowier winter ahead.
Long-term trends show a clear decline in snowfall across Greece, with METEO researchers noting that between 1991 and 2020, the duration of snow cover decreased by about 1.5 days per year.
