[Chris Alder]

Don't worry, I was in Death Valley a little over a week ago and had minimums of 37C ;)

[Mesogeiakos]

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Chris Alder - 11/7/2010 22:06

Don't worry, I was in Death Valley a little over a week ago and had minimums of 37C ;)

I d love to go to Death Valley!! ur lucky!!

But in terms of minimums or even maximums Attica is the Death Valley of Europe (not that there is any comparison but hey that's Europe) 666

But let's all cheer now for Espana!!!!Our med brothers!!!

[Skizzo]

But at least in Death Valley the air is dry. Here it's uber humid. I think sometimes it's worse in the med, near the sea.

[Mesogeiakos]

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Skizzo - 11/7/2010 22:22

But at least in Death Valley the air is dry. Here it's uber humid. I think sometimes it's worse in the med, near the sea.

Not in Greece!!!

It is SOOOOOOO dry in Athens and in coastal Attica that you wont believe you are in the med!Basically the geomorphology of Athens basin is such that traps the heat in the summer and is in a rain shadow surrounded by 4 huge mountains.Coastal Attica in fact is one of the driest areas in Greece...precip 360mm annually and humidity not more than 48%-55% in the summer!!


We do not even know what fog means in Athens...I think the frequency of a foggy day here is like one every 5 years??something like that!

Dont forget that Athens ex airport has a Hot Semi-arid climate (BSh) according to Koppen classification!!

PS. To be honest I cant remember when I last saw fog in Athens...I can vaguely remember a foggy morning in the 90's...One!!

[Skizzo]

Oh, I guess it's different here. Most of Portugal is humid. Less in the interior, but still relatively high compared to most of Spain.

[Mesogeiakos]

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Skizzo - 11/7/2010 22:35

Oh, I guess it's different here. Most of Portugal is humid. Less in the interior, but still relatively high compared to most of Spain.

Well you have the Atlantic over in Portugal...in the Med it is generally different...drier as you go eastwards and southwards

[Skizzo]

I guess the Med has a less effect, since it's pretty small compared to the Atlantic. We get nice fogs up in the North, pretty cool :)

[Mesogeiakos]

Well at last the weather is not cloudy in Athens (a few scattered clouds) ..Europe's warmest station in summer averages, Thiseion in Athens is recording 34.9 now

[PK2]

Hi Mesogeiakos,
Thanks for the reports on Greece :) . Some thoughts:

• About the fog. I'm wondering if it's not so much the med as the local geography, IIRC from Philipo in Italy (Venice region) gets a lot of fog during the winter.
• Curious the cool and fairly wet summer for Athens. IIRC didn't they have a very warm winter?

[Mesogeiakos]

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PK2 - 12/7/2010 11:27

Hi Mesogeiakos,
Thanks for the reports on Greece :) . Some thoughts:

• About the fog. I'm wondering if it's not so much the med as the local geography, IIRC from Philipo in Italy (Venice region) gets a lot of fog during the winter.
• Curious the cool and fairly wet summer for Athens. IIRC didn't they have a very warm winter?

I think you are right about the fog.It must be local factors and geomorphology...I was trying to remember last night when I last saw fog in Athens.I remembered one foggy morning in the 90's when I was in school...bare in mind that I am not the best person to give reports about winter from Athens since I live close to a decade now in London...but as far as I know(I asked a few of my relatives and friends) they havent seen fog for a few years now...maybe 3 or 4 years??

As I said Athens is protected and sheltered by 4 huge mountains creating what we call the Athens or Attica basin and basically it is in a ''rain-shadow'' thus making its climate extremely dry...In fact it is directly comparable to Murcia's climate...Also Murcia has about the same geomorphology in a basin like area!

Now about this extremely wet ,cloudy (but not cool,we had sligthly warmer June average it seems) weather this summer...I think it was or is a generalized systems instability in the area,cant really explain it...

So I guess Italy and Croatia or Albania for example in the Med would have wet climate despite being in the med..as we also have the Ionian Islands here in Greece and parts of Epirus with wet climate...

P.S We did indeed have a very warm and wet winter.(in terms of humidity but not actual rain)..i think the winter circulation still continues in a way....we had 30's in January ,February and March...this is not normal even for Greece. Who can forget the New Year's day with 30.4 in Crete!!That must be a European record for January or pretty close to a record and had multiple Saharan winds ''invations'' in the winter which is unusual for winter but fairly usual for spring

[PK2]

Curious that June hasn't come in cool. So is it the case that whilst the maximum temperatures haven't (IIRC) been that warm (seemingly barely above some of the extreme warm ones of winter) the min temperatures have kept the mean high?
Interesting what you say about the winter circulation continuing because, at times, it's felt like it here too.

[Mesogeiakos]

Quote

PK2 - 12/7/2010 13:26

Curious that June hasn't come in cool. So is it the case that whilst the maximum temperatures haven't (IIRC) been that warm (seemingly barely above some of the extreme warm ones of winter) the min temperatures have kept the mean high?
Interesting what you say about the winter circulation continuing because, at times, it's felt like it here too.

Well the maximums for Athens in June were between 30.5-31.7 and the minimums over 21.0
In Thiseion,Athens the mean June temperature was 25.6 which is about 0.6 higher than average...I think the 5-6 days of heatwave we had in Athens helped the means to come in as sligthly warmer....dont forget we had minimums of up to 29.0C during those days!!

This winter circulation is puzzling indeed...let's see how it goes from now on..

BTW Thiseion recorded 35.3 today as max

[Ian Williams]

Larrissa Airport currently 36C @ 15Z

[Mesogeiakos]

Quote

Ian Williams - 12/7/2010 16:33

Larrissa Airport currently 36C @ 15Z

Thanks Ian for reminding also Argos as well(Pyrgela) 36.0C according to HNMS

here is the Thiseion temp for today

[Mesogeiakos]

Greece's max temps yesterday according to HNMS


Sofades 37.1
Serres and Polikastro 35.8
Larisa 35.6
Lamia 35.5
Athens(Thiseio-NOA) 35.3 (Tmin 25.1)

Totally CLEAR weather today in Athens AT LAST...Sunny and not even a suspicion of cloud

[Mesogeiakos]

Athens AGAIN CLOUDY(MY GOD) the past 3 hours...Thiseio maxed at 35.6C and we had various 36-37's throughout Greece today

[Mesogeiakos]

38 in Argos(Pyrgela) as we speak according to HNMS

[Mesogeiakos]

Athens stands at 37.0 right now in Elefsina and Thiseio

[Mesogeiakos]

Athens,Thiseio maxed at 37.7 and we had various 37-38 in Greece today!! Will see what HNMS gives tommorow for the rest of the stations

[Mesogeiakos]

Greece's maxs yesterday

38 Serres
37.8 Leonidio
37.7 Athens

Highest minimum in the country 27.4 in Piraeus and Thiseio in Athens

Athens starts off today with clouds and 36 right now