The Nomos of Chania figures high in the list of extreme weather conditions in the past year, recording both the highest daily temperature in the country and the highest annual rainfall. Analytical weather records for 2024 have been published on the site www.meteo.gr, based on data from the network of automatic weather stations of the National Observatory of Athens. The most noteworthy figures are as follows:

44.5 degrees Celsius – the highest temperature of the year, recorded at Voukolies, Chania, on 13th June 2024.
-19.8 degrees Celsius — the lowest temperature of the year, not including ski centres and dolines (sinkholes), at Neos Kafkasos, Florina, on 22nd January 2024.
– 23.2 degrees Celsius — the lowest temperature of year in the Vathystalos sinkhole, Mt. Parnassus, on 12th January 2024.
435 mm — the highest daily rainfall of the year at Simonos Petras monastery, Mt. Athos, on 1st December.
2160 mm — the highest annual rainfall in the country at Askyfou, Chania.

Also noteworthy are the facts that:
— The winter of 2023-24 was the warmest in the country’s history.
— The summer of 2024 was the hottest in the country’s history.
— 31 weather events with significant social and economic effects occurred in 2023*, a number which is higher than the average for the period 2000-2024.
— 9 human lives were lost in these weather events, a smaller number than the average for the period 2000-2024.

The report also includes a digest of weather patterns month by month, which in summary are as follows:
January — warmer than the average in all parts of the country.
February — substantially warmer than the average in all parts of the country.
March — temperatures higher than the average.
April — substantially warmer than the average in all parts of the country.
May — temperatures lower than the average with much rain throughout the country.
June — substantially warmer than the average in all parts of the country. In June, the highest temperatures of the year were registered in many parts of the country,
July — substantially warmer than the average in all parts of the country. From 8th to 23rd July the country experienced the longest heatwave ever recorded.
August — temperatures higher than the average. The number of days with a strong meltemi in the Aegean was close to the seasonal average,
September — temperatures close to the norm.
October — substantially warmer than the average in all parts of the country. There was also minimal rainfall.
November — temperatures lower than the norm in all parts of the country.
December — temperatures slightly higher than the average with much rain throughout the country. In December many areas received 30 per cent of their total annual rainfall.

*2023 is the last year for which the analysis of “weather events with significant social and economic effects” has so far been published.
(Meteo.gr)