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January 2022 Greek cold wave

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Storm Elpis
Sepolia district, 2km northwest of Athens downtown
TypeCold wave
Formed23 January 2022
Dissipated26 January 2022
Lowest pressure1015 over Rhodes island
Lowest temperature−18.1 °C (−0.6 °F)
Maximum snowfall
or ice accretion		70cm (29,55 inches approx.) [1]
Areas affectedGreece

The January 2022 Greek cold wave was a cold wave over Greece from January 23–26, 2022, caused by Storm Elpis, also known as Storm Elpida in Greece.[2]

Heavy snow forced authorities to shut down roads in the northern parts of the capital including parts of main highway creating traffic chaos as commuters tried to get to their jobs, an emergency alert had been sent to residents of Attica to warn them for bad weather conditions.[3]

Storm Elpida was so intense due to the instability of the cold air passing through warm waters above Aegean, that created thundersnow in the Euboea and Attika regions, and a waterspout in Andros island which after reaching the main land it was given the name snownado.[4][5][6][7] Even though the government was prepared and aware of the situation thousands of motorists stuck in their cars in Attiki Odos, the Greek capital's main ring road for 24 hours. Civil protection gave order to the Greek army to help motorists by delivering food, water and blankets. After attempting the rescue of motorists overnight around 3500 people were saved from the ring road but 1200 cars remained stuck due to freezing conditions.[8][9]

Because of the heavy wet snow storm Elpida caused lots of damages in the power grid and grid operators started working to restore electricity that lasted more than 48 hours as of January 28. Outside of Athens in central Greece fifteen passengers were injured when a rail transport tried to pull a train stuck in the snow and carrying about 200 passengers.[10] [11]

Bad weather did not hit only the capital but several Aegean islands too causing unusually heavy snowfall in the islands of Andros, Santorini and Mykonos. As a result airports and vaccination centers closed and also schools in many areas. Research director at the National Observatory of Athens Kostas Lagouvardos told that the capital had not seen such winters for two years in a row after the damages that winterstorm Medea caused on February 16, 2021 since 1968.[12][13] [14]

Cold front Elpida caused lots of very low temperatures most of them being recorded in the morning of Wednesday January 26, the lowest was recorded in Lefkochori village in Phthiotis logged at −18.1 °C (−0.6 °F).[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ "historical cold wave 2022". antisimvatikos.blogspot. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  2. ^ Lagouvardos, Kostas. "Wild weather Elpis will bring dense snowfall and thundersnow". meteo. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Rare Snow Blizzard Causes Traffic Chaos in Athens". greekreporter. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Wild storm in Greece brings thundersnow to Athens, 'snownado' to Greek island". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Wild storm in Greece brings thundersnow to Athens". msn. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Snow blankets Greece and Turkey as wild weather system creates rare 'snownado'". CNN. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Storm Elpida : rare snownado sweeps across Greece and Turkey". Express. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Heavy Snow Strands Motorists in Greece". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Winter welcome: Stranded drivers freed in Istanbul, Athens". ABC News. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  10. ^ "Greece Snowstorm: Thousands of drivers left stranded as storm hits Athens". BBC. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Thousands evacuated from Athens motorway as snowstorm hits Greece". Reuters. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Heavy snow blankets Athens". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  13. ^ "In Pictures: Snow blankets Athens, Greek islands". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Snowstorm brings much of Turkey and Greece to a halt". dw. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  15. ^ "oi xamiloteres thermokrasies tis kakokairias Elpida(in greek)". in. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
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