Recent snowfalls in the mountains of Crete are promising to ensure an adequate supply of water across the island for the summer months, with their twin demands of irrigation and increased tourist activity. Satellite data are showing a coverage of 200 sq m on Lefka Ori – a very significant figure for the end of March. If there are no southerly winds to melt the snow during the next few weeks and it persists into May and June this will be a positive sign for the filling of the springs.
The Haniotika Nea approached ELGO Dimitra’s Institute of Olive Tree, Subtropical Crops and Viticulture (IOSV), which monitors the data from the island’s weather stations and also from satellites. As Nektarios Kourgialas, chief researcher at the organisation’s Laboratory for Water Resources and Irrigation told the paper:
“We have had some snowfall on all the mountain ranges, i.e. on Lefka Ori, on Psiloritis and on the Lasithi Mountains. Using the Sentinel imaging system, which is basically a combination of radar and optical satellite interpretation, we have tried to estimate the surface area of the snow which has fallen in Crete. Of course this entails some uncertainty since it is not a fully operational mapping process, but it gives us a very good picture. And we were able to compare it with the corresponding period at the end of March 2025.”
The snow coverage
On the basis of the latest imaging data collected on 26th March, the estimated coverage of the three main mountainous areas was:
– Lefka Ori, 200 sq km, i.e. three times more snow than in the same period last year.
– Psiloritis, 115 sq km, i.e. seven times more snow than last year.
– Lasithi Mountains, 65 sq km, i.e. 10 times more snow than last year.
“Looking at it comparatively, we have a substantially larger body of snow in March, which is getting into spring,” Mr Kourgialas said. “This means that the snow has fallen rather later than usual, which is good, because it means that it will be producing water several weeks later into the summer. If all goes well, and we do not have any strong south winds, the snows will melt during May, and could even last until June in some areas, while if you remember last year the snow had melted by the beginning of May.”
The volume of water
As to how the snowfall is translated into a volume of water, Mr Kourgialas continued: “Let’s look at a scenario where snow with an average depth of 30 cm has fallen on all the mountain ranges (locally we have had both more and less): this translates into a snow volume of around 100 million cu m and a water volume of around 20 million cu m in the whole of Crete.
“This is a significant amount, which will gradually percolate through the karstic terrain into the underground aquifers, to emerge in the springs. So this will give us water, feeding the discharge from the springs in the coming months and providing a welcome supplement to the overall supply.
“This is especially the case in Eastern Crete, which has been suffering especially [from water shortages]. And certainly if there is proper water management and we don’t have disruptions generally, at the dams and so on, then I believe that we should not have any particular problem in the summer.”
Asked if it was true, as has been observed in the past, that snow falling on Lefka Ori has appeared as water after a year and a half, Mr Kourgialas said:
“Generally the delivery of this water from the mountainous areas is subject to a delay, but that depends on the geological system. With some springs the delay is a few months while with others it can be a year or more. For example, at Agia the delay is more than a year, but at other springs such as Meskla the delay is a few months. So there we could see [the water] this year, i.e. in September, and it is vital for us to have water at the end of the summer and into the autumn.
“The flow depends on the geology of the aquifers, but yes, there are cases in which we see a result after one or one and a half years. In any case, however, it is important that we have had this snow and rainfall which didn’t create any problems with the crops when they came down. Because if this rainfall continues into the spring, i.e. April and May, we could have some problems with flower formation.
“So the timing was good. Generally rainfall is good during flower formation of the crops, but if we have humidity and continuous rains, that can cause a problem with flower fertilisation etc. The fact that there was rainfall in March, especially for non-irrigated crops, is a positive sign. It means that flower formation will progress very well, it’s an omen that we will all have a good harvest.”
Rainfall
Regarding the amount of rainfall the island has received, Mr Kourgialas explained that “In the past few days we have had some peaks in rainfall throughout Crete, which has given a boost to the water resources. Of course that doesn’t mean that the drought problem we have had in the previous years has been solved. From 2023 to 2025 we had very reduced rainfall compared with the period 2019-2022. We had a shortage especially in Eastern Crete, in Lasithi, where it was down by 65%. However [this year] we have had significant rainfall.”
In addition, Mr Kourgialas said, not only was the rainfall in March very high compared with 2025, but the rainfall in the first three months of 2026 represented a substantial proportion of the total rainfall in 2025. “It is certainly a boost which will help to relieve anxiety in the summer, especially in Eastern Crete, over the pressures on the primary sector and on tourism,” he concluded.
(Haniotika Nea, 28/03/26)