The heatwave that scorched western Europe is now barrelling eastward into the Balkans, and Greece is set to feel its first blast of rising heat on Monday — even as forecasters warned that ferocious winds, not temperature alone, pose the gravest wildfire danger.
State broadcaster ERT meteorologist Anastasia Tyraskii said northern and western Greece would feel the surge late Monday, as a broad thermal ridge pushes the mercury to 37-38°C. National forecasting service Meteo.gr predicts western mainland areas could hit 39°C.
Yet atmospheric instability and thunderstorms forecast from Tuesday to Thursday should spare Greece a full 40°C extreme-heat emergency — a small mercy in a summer already scarred by deadly fires.
The real threat lies in the wind.
Civil protection officials are tracking gale-force gusts that, despite easing from Sunday's peak of 8 on the Beaufort scale, will still lash the Aegean at 6 to 7 Beaufort through Monday, with coastal Attica recording localised gusts of up to 6.
Athens will see clear skies and temperatures swinging between 25°C and 35°C, while Thessaloniki braces for 36°C under lighter winds.
But Tyraski cautioned that even as breezes ease across inland plains, dry air and climbing heat are conspiring to leave the eastern mainland, the eastern Aegean and southern Crete primed for ignition — a volatile mix authorities are watching closely as the heat pushes toward the Balkans.