The Department of Meteorology issued on Tuesday a yellow warning for rain and storms, which will be in effect from 18:00 on Tuesday until 08:00 on Wednesday (local time).
‘A combination of rain and isolated storms will affect the island at intervals, initially the west and progressively the rest of the island,’ the Department of Meteorology said, adding that ‘hail may fall in a storm while the winds will vary and strengthen.’
The intensity of the rain is likely to locally fluctuate between 35 and 55 millimeters per hour, it concluded.
Earlier on Tuesday, Meteorological Officer Andreas Chrysanthou told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that rain, storms and a slight drop in temperature are expected from Tuesday afternoon. At the same time, he explained that 2 disturbances will occur, the first today and the second from Sunday onwards, which will affect the island, while in between there will be unstable conditions with some isolated rains, and probably an isolated storm.
This afternoon, he said, local rains and isolated storms are expected. “The possibility of hail in the storm, as well as the possibility of snow or sleet in the higher mountains, can not be ruled out,” he noted, adding that this pattern will keep on tonight, and on Wednesday too, when local rains and isolated storms will be expected at intervals. ‘In a storm, it is not ruled out that we will see some hail,’ he said.
This disturbance is gradually moving away from tomorrow onwards, Chrysanthou said, noting that until Saturday there will be some isolated rains at times. Some isolated storms with mainly cloudy weather at times are not ruled out, he noted.
‘In terms of temperature, tomorrow we will have a small drop of 1-2°C, but by Thursday and Friday we will return to the temperatures of the season, around 17-18°C in coastal areas, around 15-16°C inland and around 8-10°C in the higher mountains,’ he pointed out. ‘While on Saturday some isolated rains are likely to occur, from Sunday a new disturbance will occur again, which will give us a two-day period with local rains and isolated storms,’ he added.
“In terms of temperature, no extreme change is expected, but we may have some drop in temperature from Monday onwards, so temperatures are expected to be below the average values of the season, while temperatures will fluctuate at seasonal levels until Sunday,” he clarified.
At the same time, Andreas Chrysanthou told CNA that today, but possibly in the coming days as well, there will be intermittent dust concentrations in the atmosphere. For today, these concentrations are particularly high, he noted, adding that “in places we are already 3 times above the permissible level.”
In the coming days, he continued, “we will have intermittent dust concentrations, which will bother us.” As he explained, the dust “is the result of disturbances moving over the northern regions of Africa, lifting quantities of dust and transporting them towards us in the east, a pattern that will continue in the coming days.”