Climatology
This page presents Greece's climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown list.
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.
Greece has a Mediterranean climate, with mild and wet winters in the southern lowland and island regions and cold winters with strong snowfalls in the mountainous areas in the central and northern regions and hot, dry summers. The mean temperature during summer (April to September) is approximately 24°C in Athens and southern Greece, while lower in the north. Generally, temperatures are higher in the southern part of the country. Except for a few thunderstorms, rainfall is rare from June to August, where sunny and dry days are mainly observed. The dry, hot weather is often relieved by a system of seasonal breezes. The mean annual temperature for the period 2001 – 2015, as measured at selected meteorological stations of the country, is higher in most of the stations compared to the mean annual temperature of the period 1991 – 2000 while the mean annual temperature for the period 1991 – 2000 is higher compared to these of the period 1961 – 1990.