Rain and dust coming to cloud sunny skies

Residents planning to put a sparkle on their cars ahead of the weekend may as well put away the bucket and sponge, as a combination of rain and dust from the Sahara will be casting a muddy pall over Greece’s sunny skies starting on Thursday afternoon.

In its latest forecast, the National Observatory of Athens’ Meteo weather service said rain is expected to make an appearance in most parts of the country over the course of the day, intensifying on Friday along with southerly winds carrying particles of sand from North Africa.

Temperatures are also expected to drop to more seasonal levels over the next few days as winds also pick up, reaching speeds of 6-7 on the Beaufort scale.

For Athens in particular, Meteo foresees overcast skies into the early hours of Saturday, with rain, and possible thunderstorms, making an appearance midday on Friday. Thursday’s daytime high of 23 degrees Celsius is expected to drop to 18C on Friday, before shooting back up to reach 27 Celsius on Sunday.

Thessaloniki and other parts of northern Greece should expect rain on Thursday and Friday, with the daytime high in the port city not exceeding 20 degrees Celsius on either day and the overcast conditions persisting through the weekend.

Greece’s national weather service, EMY, meanwhile, has forecast rain and sporadic storms in the Aegean Sea on Thursday night and Friday, noting that these tempests may be particularly strong over the northern part of the archipelago.

A similar warning of strong, sudden storms on Thursday and Friday has been issued for parts of mainland Greece – including Thessaly – and Evia.