Greece’s Civil Protection sent emergency messages to citizens via <112> on Saturday, urging them to limit their movement due to stormy winds that have already led to cancellation of sea traffic. At the same time, the National Meteorological Service updated its Weather Warning issued on Friday to Highest Category “RED.”
112 Warning – Affected areas
Regions where citizens received the sms warning include: Attica, Athens and Piraeus, northern Aegean Sea, the Cyclades islands, the Gulfs of Patras and Corinth, eastern and central Macedonia and Thrace.
SEA TRAFFIC DISRUPT DUE TO HIGH WINDS
Several ships and ferries have cancelled their itineraries on Saturday due to gale-force winds and after the Shipping Ministry banned sailing from several ports across the country.
Among them were ferries departing from Piraeus port to Chania and Heraklio, Crete
Sea traffic in the Saronic Gulf possible only with closed-type boats.
Schedules departing from the ports of Rafina and Lavrio, south-eastern Attica, have been cancelled.
Also cancelled are the lines Agia Marina-Nea Stira, Kavala-Prinos, Rio-Antirrio, and Killini-Zakynthos schedules.
Passengers should contact local port authorities and travel agencies for the latest schedule information.
UPDATED WEATHER WARNING
Saturday noon, November 25, the National Meteorological Service EMY updated to RED Category-DANGEROUS WEATHER PHENOMENA its weather warning issued on Friday.
The update follows the latest date forecasting “the significant and rapid deepening of the barometric low Bettina that formed in the Adriatic and is moving towards Greece, resulting in the significant strengthening of winds that will reach 9 and possibly locally 10 Beaufort.
Main features of Bettina are: very gale force winds across almost the entire country and locally heavy rains and storms mainly in the west, north and east and south islands.
Snowfall will occur in the continental highlands but also in semi-mountainous areas of Thrace, Macedonia and temporarily in Epirus.
The temperature will drop noticeably from Saturday night and especially on Sunday, when it will drop by 8 to 10 degrees Celsius in the Ionian Sea and the continental regions and by 4 to 6 degrees Celsius in the rest of the regions.
In Detail:
A. Very gale force winds are expected:
a. in the west by early afternoon Saturday, initially west southwest 7 to 8 B and quickly northwest 8 to 9 B and possibly locally in the Ionian to 10 Beaufort.
b. in the east from Saturday afternoon southwest 7 to 9, with gusts possibly reaching 10 Beaufort. Gradually from the evening they will turn to northwesterlies up to 9 Beaufort.
c. weakening of the winds is predicted from Sunday afternoon.
B. Heavy rains and storms are forecast today Saturday:
a. in Ionia, Epirus, western Sterea, western Peloponnese, the Dodecanese, the islands of the eastern Aegean, eastern Macedonia and Thrace.
b. temporarily the rest of Macedonia, the rest of Peloponnese, the western and southern main parts of Crete, western Thessaly and central Sterea will be affected.
c. the strong phenomena on Saturday night will be limited to eastern Macedonia, Thrace and eastern island Greece, while in the rest of the country they will weaken.
C. Snowfall will occur from the evening hours of Saturday until the midday hours of Sunday in the continental highlands, in semi-mountainous areas of Thrace, Macedonia and temporarily in Epirus with an indicative altitude of 500-700 meters and possibly locally in areas with a lower altitude of eastern Macedonia and Thrace.
The weather warning bulletin is updated every 12 hours.
Indicative Maps
sources: EMY, meteomaps