A new turn for the worse in weather is predicted for the next few days, bringing rain to most mainland areas of Greece as of Thursday and dumping a lot of rain on Crete over the weekend.

According to the National Observatory of Athens’ Meteo service, a low barometric front currently southwest of Crete will be moving eastwards to the end of the month, gaining strength along the way.

Temperatures will be unseasonally low especially in eastern and southern Greece throughout the weekend, while strong winds in the eastern mainland and in the Aegean in particular will reach up to 10 on the Beaufort scale. Rain is expected in most of Greece, especially on Crete.

On Thursday (today), locally intense rainfall and storms, in places accompanied by hailstorms, will sweep the west, central and south of the country. By night the phenomena will be restricted to the Cyclades and the Dodecanese Islands and to Crete.

On Friday, intense rainstorms, again accompanied in places by hailstorms, will break out in the South Cyclades, Crete and the Dodecanese Islands. Crete will bear the brunt of the storms, with large volumes of water expected, and intense snowfall on higher elevations of the island.

On Saturday and Sunday, some rainfall is expected on the central to eastern and southern mainland, with possible light snowfall at higher elevations. Rain will continue on Crete, at times intensely.

Temperatures today Thursday are expected to range from 5C in northern Greece to a maximum of 17C on the Dodecanese Islands. Strong winds are expected in the Aegean, ranging around 6 on the Beaufort scale on average, but reaching up to 8 and 9 Beaufort in the North and West Aegean Sea.

In Attica, rain and some rainstorms are expected, with light snowfall on Mt. Parnitha and Mt. Kitheronas in the late afternoon. Winds are expected to be strong, reaching in the east up to 9 on the Beaufort scale.

In central Athens, temperatures will range from 10C to 14C, slightly lower in north and eastern neighbourhoods.

Thessaloniki will be overcast with possible rain early in the rain but improvement through the day. Winds will reaach up to 5 on the Beaufort scale, while temperatures in the center of the city are expected to range from 9C to 14C.

Ships docked in Ionian Sea
Early on Thursday, ships serving the Zakynthos-Kyllini line on western Greece were docked due to the strong winds prevailing in the Ionian Sea.