Greece is heading into a rainy weekend followed by a cooler, unsettled Christmas week, as two successive weather systems are expected to bring widespread showers, falling temperatures, and mountain snow.
Mr. Thodoris Kolydas, a meteorologist for Star TV and former director of the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, warned in his weekly outlook that the country faces two distinct waves of bad weather.
The first system is sweeping through from Saturday into Sunday, while a second, more intense front is forecast to hit from Tuesday afternoon through Christmas morning.
"Rain is likely to persist on Christmas Day, especially in western Greece and the eastern Aegean, before easing significantly from midday onward," Mr. Kolydas noted on his website, though he cautioned that the timing of the improvement remains fluid.
In Athens, the heaviest rainfall is projected between Dec. 23 and Christmas Eve, with daily totals potentially exceeding 20 millimeters (0.8 inches) in parts of Attica.
For the current weekend, meteo.gr forecasts increased cloud cover and local showers across most of the mainland.
By Saturday night, isolated thunderstorms are expected to strike the southern Peloponnese, Crete, and the Dodecanese.
Temperatures in Athens will hover between 10 C (50 F) and 15 C (59 F).
Conditions will deteriorate further on Tuesday as clouds thicken nationwide. Strong storms are forecast for the Ionian Sea and western mainland by evening, accompanied by snowfall in the mountain ranges of central and northern Greece.
Winds are expected to strengthen, reaching up to 7 on the Beaufort scale in the Ionian.
While Christmas Day may start damp, meteorologists predict a clearing trend by the afternoon, followed by a sharper drop in temperatures as the country approaches New Year’s Eve.