The weather on New Year’s Eve, Wednesday 31/12, will bring widespread frost to the northern parts of the country, with intense cold also affecting Attica.

Weather deterioration from this afternoon (30/12)
According to the latest forecast data from the National Observatory of Athens / meteo.gr, a temporary change in the weather is expected from the afternoon hours of Tuesday 30/12 until the morning hours of New Year’s Day.

More specifically:

• From the afternoon hours of Tuesday 30/12, local rain and thunderstorms are expected in parts of the Ionian Sea, Western Central Greece, Western Peloponnese, Crete, the Cyclades, the islands of the Eastern Aegean and the Dodecanese.
• During the evening hours of Tuesday 30/12 and the early morning hours of Wednesday 31/12, local rain is also expected in parts of Thessaly, Eastern Central Greece, the Northern Aegean and temporarily in Macedonia.
• From the early morning hours of Wednesday 31/12, starting from the north, a temperature drop of around 7–10 degrees Celsius is expected compared to temperatures on Tuesday 30/12. This drop will be felt mainly in the central and northern parts of the country.
• On Wednesday 31/12, local rain is expected in the lowland areas of eastern and southern Greece, while local snowfall is initially expected mainly in the mountainous and semi-mountainous areas of eastern mainland Greece (Thessaly, Eastern Central Greece) and temporarily and locally even in areas of low altitude.

Snow even in Attica
During the evening hours of Wednesday 31/12 and the early morning hours of Thursday 01/01 (a period of low forecast reliability*), temporary local snowfall may occur even in areas of low altitude (locally even in lowland areas) of Macedonia, Thessaly, the Northern Aegean and Eastern Central Greece (including Attica).

• Winds during the afternoon hours of Tuesday 30/12 will initially blow from generally southwesterly directions at intensities up to 4–5 Beaufort, while from the evening hours of Tuesday and the early morning hours of Wednesday 31/12, winds are expected to shift to northerly directions with intensities up to 6–7 Beaufort.
• On New Year’s Day, weather phenomena are expected to be limited to the Aegean and Crete, where rain is expected in lowland areas and snowfall in mountainous areas. Gradually, by the end of the day, the phenomena will weaken.

*It is noted that the time period from the evening hours of Wednesday 31/12 until the early morning hours of Thursday 01/01 is characterized by increased forecast uncertainty (low predictability) for our country. In simple terms, small variations in the prevailing atmospheric conditions can lead to significant changes both in the distribution of air masses and in weather phenomena (rain or snow), as reflected in ensemble forecasts of the major global forecasting centers.