Weather records in 2022: “champions” – an unprecedented downpour in Crete and cold in Lefkohori down to -18.1°C

Another warm year was 2022 for most regions of Greece and for most months, with heat peaks on June 22-23 and July 23-29.

According to the records of the network of automatic weather stations of the National Observatory of Athens/meteo.gr, the lowest temperatures of the year were recorded mainly during Cyclone Elpis, between 23 and 25 January.

A special place in the temperature records of 2022 is occupied by Lefkohori Fthiotida, where the lowest minimum (-18.1°C on 26/01) and the highest maximum (42.1°C on 23/06) of the year were simultaneously recorded, creating an annual temperature range, exceeding 60 degrees.

In terms of rainfall, Crete, Epirus and Magnesia shared the lead, while the meteorological station in Asi Gonia in Chania recorded an annual rainfall of 2383 millimeters. On the contrary, the lowest annual height of precipitation occurs in Attica, North Corinth and South Boeotia. The map below shows the 10 highest and 10 lowest annual precipitation levels for 2022.

Among notable weather events Last year, the meteorological service notes the following:

• During the bad weather “ELPIS” (January 23-25), heavy snow fell in the prefecture of Attica and the city of Athens. Hundreds of drivers have been stranded on Attiki Odos and several areas of Attica have experienced multi-day power outages.
• March was very cold for the first three weeks, with snow falling in several parts of the country. Snowfall in Attica was recorded on March 10-12 and March 19-21.
• June was characterized by heavy rains on the mainland.
• In July, a lot of rain fell again in Central and Northern Greece.
• In the period from August 20 to 26, a very long period of weather cataclysms was observed. Bad weather hit almost the entire country, which happened in the summer of 47 years ago (30.07 – 05.08.1975).
• September was very cold in Northern Greece.
• On October 15, heavy rains caused flooding and extensive damage in Crete, killing 2 people.
• December was unusually warm throughout the country.
• On January 24, the minimum temperature of -19.8 °C was recorded in the Kaimaktsalan ski center (2090 m), on January 26, the minimum temperature of -28.6 °C was recorded in the Batistallos Parnas sinkhole (1780 m), and on the same day the failure of Kehroti Mainalo (1613 m) was equal to -29.2°C..
• The significant amount of precipitation that fell in the Cyclades in August led to the fact that many years later they didn’t rank last by annual rainfall.
• Of all the cyclones recorded in Greece in 2022, eight were named (Diomedes, Elpis, Bianca, Philip, Genesis, Eve, Ariel, Gaia).
• The area of ​​fires in our country, from the beginning of 2022 to the last ten days of October, amounted to ~ 200,000 ha, which corresponds to ~ 46% of the average fire area in our country for the period 2006–2021.

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