The thermometer hit “red” in October in Greece as well

The warmest October in the last 15 years was this year, according to its data National Observatory of Athens. As the last 15 years have been warmer than the previous average, October 2023 is also for the Hellas one of the hottest. According to the network of 51 meteorological stations of the National Observatory of Athens/meteo.gr, in October this year the average value of the maximum daily temperatures fluctuated at extremely high levels almost throughout the country, compared to the average of the period 2010-2019.

Macedonia and Thrace recorded the largest upward temperature deviations, with average monthly values ​​fluctuating 3.5 °C above normal levels for the season. It was also exceptionally warm for Thessaly (+2.8 °C), Central Greece, Epirus, the Iptane Islands, Western Greece and the Peloponnese (+2.7 °C). In the Aegean islands and Crete the deviation was +1.8 °C and 1.6 °C respectively.

It is impressive that throughout October there were no negative temperatures, i.e. the thermometer did not fall below 0 in all weather stations of the EEA, even in the mountainous ones at an altitude of more than 2,000 meters!

Temperatures above the 1991-2020 period average were recorded in many regions, such as 3.5 °C in Macedonia-Thrace, 2.8 °C in Thessaly and 2.7 °C in Sterea, Epirus, Peloponnese.

According to the announcement of meteo.gr, in Athens the average monthly deviation value of the maximum temperature was +1.9 °C, with 25 of the 31 days of the month being warmer than usual. In Thessaloniki, 27 days of the month were warmer than the 2010-2019 average, with the average maximum temperature of the month rising +2.9 °C above normal levels. In Lefkada there was a positive deviation on all 31 days of October, while in Ioannina and Igoumenitsa on 29 days.

At the same time, this year’s October was quite dry. meteo.gr compared the amount of rain that fell in October in relation to the climatic average of the period 1991-2020 and noted that “in the entire area of ​​Greece, higher than normal values ​​are not observed, as no significant amounts of rain occurred.

On the contrary, 38% of its land area presents mild or moderate drought conditions. The phenomenon was more intense in central and eastern Macedonia and especially in Thrace, which presented drought conditions, which are characterized as moderate and in places extreme.

Despite a very warm October, the picture in Greece this year was contradictory, with some months being much warmer than usual (January, July, October) while others were considerably cooler (April, May, June). What is certain is that in our country the hottest years were recorded mainly in the last decade. The highest average temperature occurs in 2018, with 2019, 2021 and 2020 being among the hottest.