Winter makes itself felt: "martis gdartis"

Bad weather brought snow to Greece, despite the fact that it is calendar spring outside.

Snowfall in the Arachova mountains fell continuously from 22:00 yesterday, March 4, until 5 am today, as a result of which the road network of the region at an altitude of 1500 meters and above is covered with snow, the height of which was about half a meter.

Many drivers were caught off guard by the new snowfall, the third in 15 days, and were forced to leave their cars on the side of the road to put snow chains on their tires as in many places the freshly fallen snow froze and compacted, turning the roads into an ice skating rink (the most dangerous thing to drive). ).

From the very morning, snow removal vehicles of the municipality appeared on the roads of the region. According to experts, this weekend the ski resort will also open many slopes, which is expected to bring income to businessmen of Arachova and the surrounding area.

The bad weather that struck the country and began from the west brought snow to the mountains of Epirus. According to epirusgate, last night snow fell throughout the prefecture of Ioannina at an altitude of more than 900 meters, in Pades, Elefthero, Tzoumerka, Kalarrites, Matsuki, Metsovo, Zagori. The old-timers of Greece are not at all surprised by this, since they are well aware of the folk wisdom: “martis gdartis ke kakos palukokaftis” (Μάρτης γδάρτης και κακός παλουκοκαύτης), which translated into Russian (literally) means: “Mart the king it’s screeching/scratching, burning firewood.”

In the folk tradition of the Greeks March was given various names, mainly related to unstable weather conditionswhich prevail at this time. They said this about the first month of spring because The March cold usually came suddenly, when the supply of firewood was almost gone.

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