Greece is experiencing a mini-summer in October with much higher average temperatures than usual for this time of year.
Temperatures are peaking at 24 – 26°C in the north, 27 – 28°C across the rest of mainland Greece, reaching 29°C in some areas. The Ionian islands see daily highs of 25°C, while the Aegean’s temperatures peak at 26 – 29°C.
In Athens temperatures range from 19-28°C. In Thessaloniki, temperatures range from 17-26°C, with light variable winds blowing at 2-3 Beaufort in the Thermaic Gulf.
Mini-summer in Greece all week
General spring-like weather is expected to continue through the week, although cloudiness and showers are forecasted for Wednesday and Thursday.
Theodoros Kolydas, the director of the National Meteorological Service explained that while October is usually a transitional month, it will be marked by warm, dry weather.
“These days are often referred to as ‘Indian Summer’ and similar conditions are expected across Europe, including Greece,” Kolydas said. He added that sunny and dry periods like this can occur earlier, depending on the position of the high-pressure system covering the region.
Mainland Europe also experiences warm weather with temperatures in some regions soaring to 34°C — far above the seasonal norm.
Tourists heading to popular destinations like Spain, southern France, Italy, and Greece can expect the mercury to rise 10°C above the average for this time of year, creating summer-like conditions despite the autumn season.
While the mini-summer may have caught many by surprise, it offers a last chance for summer-like conditions in southern Europe before the cooler months of autumn and winter set in. Holidaymakers will likely take full advantage of the unseasonably warm weather, turning October into an unexpected beach holiday season.
Greece’s hottest summer on record
The summer of 2024 was the hottest on record in Greece, according to the preliminary data from the Meteo weather service of the National Observatory of Athens.
The nation surpassed the previous milestone by one degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit). The season was characterized by prolonged heat waves across the country, with temperatures far exceeding normal seasonal levels.
June and July were the warmest months since records began in 1960, while August was the second hottest behind August 2021, the observatory said on its meteo.gr website.
The observatory noted that on average, summer temperatures in Greece have risen by 2.3 Celsius between 1960 and 2024.
Combined with prolonged drought, Greece this summer was again hit by scores of wildfires, one of which burned through to the Athens suburbs in August, killing a woman trapped in a factory. Another wildfire near Corinth claimed the lives of two people.
Observatory chairman Manolis Plionis said that the number of Greek wildfires this year — over 4,000 since May according to officials — was higher than the 20-year average.