Weather forecast to worsen

The weather is likely to worsen on Thursday due to the area of low pressure across the country.

According to the Meteo weather service, heavy rains and storms will initially occur in the Ionian Islands and the western mainland Greece, which will be accompanied by lightning and hail.

There will be local rainfall in other parts of the country.

The bad weather front will progressively move further eastwards and affect the entire country, including Attica and the city of Athens as well as Thessaloniki, which will see significant rainfall on Thursday evening.

Heavy snowfall is expected in mountainous areas of mainland Greece as well as semi-mountainous areas in northwest, central and northern Greece, which includes several towns in Western Macedonia. The snowfall will continue into Friday morning.

Temperatures in Athens will range from 7C to 12-13C.