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February 2021 Greek cold wave

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Zoozaz1 (talk | contribs) at 23:13, 30 July 2021 (Zoozaz1 moved page Draft:February 2021 European cold wave to Draft:February 2021 Greek cold wave). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

  • Comment: Seems to focus primarily on Greece in the Affected areas section, which makes me wonder whether this article needs to be renamed to reflect that, or whether it needs to be expanded to cover more information about the areas listed in the introduction. Copyediting seems better now. Bkissin (talk) 15:00, 30 July 2021 (UTC)
  • Comment: Need to improve WP:MOS Antan O 16:19, 23 July 2021 (UTC)

February 2021 European cold wave
Trees under a blanket of snow with a church as a backdrop on 16 February
TypeCold wave
Formed13 February 2021
Lowest temperature-25.1 °C (-13.18 °F) in Neos Kaykasos village, Florina[1]
Fatalities3 deaths
Areas affectedWestern Europe, Central Europe, Greece

An unusually cold period occurred in Europe from 13 to 16 February 2021 as a result of a large extratropical low over the Atlantic that developed snow in Ireland and especially extreme snow in parts of Iceland. The European continent remained under the effect of deep freeze, spreading south following a major snowstorm that occurred in Greece on 13–17 February. The developing Mediterranean frontal system would develop a major winter storm and heavy snowfall with blizzard conditions across the southern Balkans. As the high pressure system over western Europe pushed the cold air mass further, the cold moved south.

Affected areas

The cold wave that occured during the period of 13 to 17 February was of great significance because of the fact that snow fell in the most parts of Greece. Apart from the Ionian islands and the west seaside, snow even fell in Aegean islands and in Crete. According to meteorological stations of the National Meteorological Service snow fell in Cyclades (Mykonos island), seaside of Crete (Heraklion, Souda) and in Dodecanese (Kos), places that rarely has it been seen snowing.[2]

Three people died (two on the island of Euboea and three in Crete).[3] On 13 February, the cold air mass reached Northern Greece in Thessaloniki area while the rest of the country was experiencing rain after a prolonged period of hot weather with increased temperatures. Cold air moved south and by Sunday had reached the Attika region with brief snowfalls over 550 meters in mountainous regions. Early on 15 February, snowfalls started appearing in north suburbs and continued falling over the city until dawn.

Before midnight, the weather deteriorated rapidly, because of wind convergence in the lower layers of the atmosphere and by 16 February the whole Attika region was blanketed by deep snow.[4] Weather system "Medea" caused traffic havoc and numerous disruptions in the city including a halt in vaccinations for COVID-19.[5] Because wet snow is heavier than dry snow, many trees did not withstand the heavy weight and fell down blocking main roads, especially in northern suburbs, in which many trees fell on power lines cutting electricity and also cutting water supply for five days.[6]

Despite all the problems the weather phenomenon caused, lots of people braved the cold and the COVID-19 curfew and got out of their homes to play in the snow or even go for skiing, like the Norwegian ambassador with his daughter in Filothei hills as he wrote on Twitter.[7][8]

Meteorologists reported that the last time the center of Athens saw so much snow was in February 2008.[9] Numerous photos of famous local landmarks were captured covered in ice, such as Panathenian stadium, Filopapos Monument,[10] and the Acropolis.[11]

The weather phenomenon was so intense that municipality of Athens needed to dispatch orange snowplows for the first time in weather history[citation needed] to clear streets of ice and snow given that ambulances had to arrive to the hospitals fast in case of emergency of a coronavirus positive person that needed immediate treatment and furthermore presidential guards were given coats to be protected from the cold, while the guard change could only be done with the use of a military vehicle.[12]

The total damages in Greece were so great that authorities called out armed forces to cope with more than 800 downed trees in Athens, hundreds more in nearby areas, and 500 damaged electricity posts on Euboea island.

Climatological data for some iconic locations on 16 February are the following:

Gazi area in downtown with an elevation of 55 m recorded a low temperature of -0.8 °C (30.56 °F), highest was 2.3 °C (36.14 °F) and the average temperature of the day was 0.5 °C (32.9 °F).[13]

Piraeus the greatest port of the country with elevation 29 m recorded a low temperature of -0.6 °C (30.92 °F), highest was 3.2 °C (37.76 °F) with an average temperature of 1.2 °C (34.16 °F).[14]

Alimos area in south suburbs near the sea with elevation of 25 m recorded a low temperature of -0.7 °C (30.74 °F), highest was 1.7 °C (35.06 °F) and the average of the day was 0.4 °C (32.72 °F).[15]

  • a railroad covered in snow
    a railroad covered in snow
  • Trees covered in snow
    Trees covered in snow

References

  1. ^ "lowest temperature". meteo. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  2. ^ "snowfall 15-17 feb" (PDF). hnms.Hellenic National Meteorological Service. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  3. ^ "greece-rare-snowstorm-leaves-3-dead". dw. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  4. ^ "greece-blanketed-by-heaviest-snowfall-in". reuters. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  5. ^ "rare-snow-blankets-acropolis-halts-vaccinations". nypost. 16 February 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  6. ^ "snow-blankets-athens-causing-traffic-havoc". greekreporter. 16 February 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  7. ^ "athens-snow-feb-16". keeptalkinggreece. 16 February 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  8. ^ "unusually-heavy-snow-blankets-athens". TheGuardian. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  9. ^ "greece-us-weather". RTE. Ireland's National Public Service. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  10. ^ "rare-snowfall-athens". Indianexpress. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  11. ^ "attica-heaviest-snowfall-40-years". Greek city times. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  12. ^ "rare-snow-blankets-acropolis-halts-vaccinations". ctvNews. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  13. ^ "athens/2021-02". meteo. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  14. ^ "pireas/2021-02". meteo. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  15. ^ "alimos/2021-02". meteo. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
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