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- SUNSHINE GUIDE TO ATHENS, GREECE
-
- SEASONS: Athens has the three-season year typical of the Mediterannean lands.
- Spring (March through mid-May) is the season of mild temperatures and renewed
- vegetative growth. Summer (mid-May through the first serious rains in
- October) is the hot dry season, with dusty landscapes under blazing skies.
- Winter (sometime in October through the end of February) is the cool rainy
- season. It starts with the first heavy rains of October and ends with the
- burgeoning of new growth. Since the perennial vegetation is almost entirely
- evergreen, and most crops grow throughout the year, there is no "fall" as
- such.
-
- ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
-
- JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
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-
- HOURS OF DAYLIGHT 9:52 10:46 11:56 13:10 14:13 14:46 14:32 13:39 12:29 11:15 10:11 9:36
-
- HOURS OF SUNSHINE 3:54 5:13 5:46 7:38 8:56 10:44 11:54 11:33 9:26 6:45 4:48 3:50
-
- AREA OF BLUE SKY 45% 43% 47% 52% 60% 75% 89% 88% 78% 60% 43% 41%
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-
- LOW FOR MONTH 32° 33° 36° 43° 51° 60° 65° 65° 58° 51° 42° 36°
-
- SUNRISE TEMPERATURE 42° 43° 46° 52° 60° 67° 72° 72° 66° 60° 52° 46°
-
- AFTERNOON TEMPERATURE 54° 56° 60° 67° 77° 85° 91° 90° 83° 74° 64° 57°
-
- HIGH FOR MONTH 63° 65° 70° 78° 87° 95° 100° 99° 93° 84° 74° 66°
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-
- FROSTY MORNINGS 6% 4% 2% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 3%
-
- AFTERNOONS OVER 90° 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 10% 49% 39% 8% 0% 0% 0%
-
- AFTERNOON HUMIDITY 62% 61% 57% 51% 48% 43% 36% 37% 42% 54% 62% 64%
-
- SEA TEMPERATURES 59° 59° 58° 61° 65° 72° 76° 77° 76° 72° 67° 61°
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-
- CHANCES OF A DRY DAY 81% 84% 85% 89% 90% 95% 98% 96% 95% 87% 80% 79%
-
- TOTAL PRECIPITATION 2.3" 1.6" 1.4" 0.8" 0.8" 0.6" 0.2" 0.4" 0.6" 1.8" 2.6" 2.8"
-
- SNOWY DAYS 4% 4% 2% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 2%
-
- THUNDER DAYS 3% 4% 3% 3% 6% 6% 3% 3% 4% 7% 6% 4%
-
- FOGGY DAYS 2% 2% 4% 7% 3% 3% 3% 2% 3% 3% 4% 2%
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-
- NICE DAY INDEX 69% 73% 75% 81% 85% 89% 83% 92% 90% 83% 74% 69%
- ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
-
- Copyright 1995 by Patrick J. Tyson, Box 492787, Redding CA 96049. All rights reserved.
- ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
- SUNSHINE GUIDE TO ATHENS, GREECE
-
- SUNNIEST MONTHS: Early March through late November. This is when you can
- expect to get the sunniest weather of the year. In general, 62% of the year's
- daylight hours will be sunny--from a high of 85% in August, to a low of 40% in
- January and February. From June through September, more than four days out of
- five will be clear. On the other hand, from November through March, about one
- day in ten will see no sunshine at all.
-
- WARMEST MONTHS: Late June through the middle of August. During these months,
- the afternoon temperatures will hit 90° and higher on close to (but less than)
- half the days. Low afternoon humidities keep these temperatures from feeling
- hotter than they already are. Still, summer afternoons are good times to
- avoid physical stress. My own policy is to take a nap during the afternoon,
- and then stay up into the late hours. Morning is the best time of day for any
- strenuous activity. The hottest actual temperature of the year will be around
- 101° (it will only feel like 98°), and will probably occur in July.
-
- However, from May through October, many nights will be hot enough in the
- city center that you will sleep better with some sort of room-cooling.
-
- COOLEST MONTHS: December through March, though they are not really all that
- cold. Below-freezing temperatures will occur only three or four times a
- winter during these months, and the afternoons always warm up considerably.
- The coldest temperature of the year will be around 29°, and will probably
- occur during a January cold spell--while the rest of Europe is really in the
- deep freeze. Snowfalls are pretty much restricted to flurries, and snow
- rarely remains on the ground for long. However, the nearby mountains
- (Hymettus at 3,366' and Pendeli at 3,638') are often snow-capped on winter
- days.
-
- DRIEST MONTHS: June through September. Some 75% of the year's days will get
- no measurable precipitation; that is, they will get less than a hundredth of
- an inch. July will have 94% such days, whereas wet December and January will
- get only 56%. A "dry day" in the table, however, is one with less than a
- tenth of an inch--a more useful measure. It takes at least that much to wet
- the ground under the trees.
-
- Almost all of the rain comes from the series of frontal systems that
- pass from west to east across the Mediterranean basin during the cooler
- months. These can be expected at three-to-five-day intervals, and the
- resulting precipitation shows no preference for any particular time of day.
-
- THINGS TO KNOW: That particular Greek brilliance and lucidity of the
- atmosphere that artists and poets have celebrated for centuries in now badly
- obscured by smog and atmospheric pollution within the city. It's still
- around, but you have to get out of Athens and go to a non-industrialized rural
- area or some of the smaller islands to find it.
-
- ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
-
- Copyright 1995 by Patrick J. Tyson, Box 492787, Redding CA 96049. All rights reserved.
- ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
-