Filenews 24 January 2022
The bad weather of the weekend will continue at least until Thursday, according to forecasts of the Meteorological Service, with the phenomena of rain and thunderstorms for some hours being prolonged and intense. In the mountains, snowfall will continue. The passage of bad weather "Elpida" with the intense weather phenomena and the strong winds brought many problems. There were breakdowns in the network of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) resulting in the interruption of the electricity supply from Saturday evening in areas of the Pafos district and from Sunday morning in areas of the provinces of Limassol and Nicosia. The damages were caused due to falling trees in the EAC cables or due to the fact that tree branches were entangled in the overhead cables or due to the fact that foreign objects were found in the overhead network of the Authority and caused a short circuit.
There were also several incidents in which the intervention of the Fire Brigade was required due to the bad weather. According to the spokesman of the Fire Brigade, the winds responded to 17 incidents all over Cyprus, of which 14 were in the districts of Nicosia and Limassol and mainly concerned falls and movements of trees and structures made of cheap materials. There was a peculiar case in Limassol with the overturning of a small private vehicle in motion, by the wind. The driver was taken to the Hospital as a precaution. A large amount of water had accumulated in the river Xeros in the Pafos district, with the Police urging drivers not to attempt to cross it. In fact, drivers who attempted to cross it were eventually trapped, putting themselves in danger.
The adverse weather conditions also affected the operation of sampling points for rapid coronavirus testing, as well as close contact tracing. It is noted that today the sampling point for the purpose of tracing close contacts in the Strovolos Popular Market (GSP) is temporarily moved to the antechamber of the Lefkotheos Sports Center.
Due to snowfall and frost in the Troodos area the roads remained closed in the early hours of Sunday. As soon as the roads were opened, citizens from all over Cyprus, even with saloon vehicles, rushed to the area, resulting in traffic congestion around 12.00 noon. These vehicles did not carry snow chains, so they were unable to continue their course through the roads Karvounas - Troodos and Platres - Troodos, resulting in congestion of traffic.
The heavy rainfall also helped the reservoirs. Yesterday we had the first dam overflow in the District of Paphos. Argaka, with a capacity of 990,000 cubic meters of water. A similar development is expected in the coming hours for the small Dam of Pomos, which has also been almost full in recent days.
The weather forecast
The Elpida weather system will affect the area until Wednesday night.
Today the weather will be mostly clear, but locally increased clouds are likely to give isolated light rains and locally in the mountains light snowfall. The temperature will rise to around 10 degrees in the interior, around 12 degrees on the coast and around zero in the higher mountains. Locally in the higher mountains frost will be observed.
Tonight the weather will initially be mostly clear, with locally increased cloud, but in the midnight hours it will gradually become mostly cloudy, with rain and isolated thunderstorms, initially in the western half of the island but later in the remaining areas. In the mountains it will snow from time to time. Locally the phenomena will be prolonged or even intense. The temperature will drop around one degree in the interior, around 6 degrees on the west coast, around 4 degrees on the rest of the coast and around minus 7 degrees in the higher mountains. Locally in the highlands and in the interior, frost will form.
On Tuesday the weather will be mostly cloudy, with rain intermittently and isolated thunderstorms. In the higher mountains it will snow at times. Locally the phenomena will be prolonged or even intense. Late in the afternoon the weather will improve noticeably.
On Wednesday the weather will be partly cloudy and temporarily cloudy, with local rain or even thunderstorms. Snowfall is expected in the mountains. On Thursday the weather will be mostly clear, but locally there will be increased cloud.
The temperature will rise on Tuesday, to hover just below the average climatic values. On Wednesday it will fall and on Thursday a small rise, while remaining on Thursday, below the average climatic values.
The height of the snow in Troodos Square, at the time of issue of the bulletin, was 42 centimetres.
