Filenews 19 February 2025 - by Despina Psillou
'Coral' will bring bitter cold and glaciers even in the coastal areas of Cyprus from Tsiknopempti. It is a system arriving from Siberia, the director of the Meteorological Service, Filippos Tymvios, clarified to Filenews, noting that it is a prolonged period of bad weather with a duration of weeks, with north winds, rain and snow.
We will see phenomena that are not common, explains Mr. Tymvios, such as snow in the semi-mountainous areas, ie at an altitude of 300 meters and above, frost temperatures during the day in the mountains, as well as the mercury falling to zero or even below in Nicosia and the coast.
The name of the bad weather, Coral, derives from the team for the Eastern Mediterranean which consists of the national Meteorological Services in Greece, Israel and Cyprus. "Severe weather Coral is coming from the northeast as a result of high pressures of the Siberian anticyclone, a permanent system in the Siberian region."
The storm is expected to last for a week and for the first time in many years a system with such freezing temperatures will affect Israel.
''The bad weather starts on Thursday with a few sporadic rains and noticeably low temperatures," Tymvios said, adding that the mercury on Thursday will drop about 5 degrees below normal levels for the season, followed by a further drop in the coming days.
Severe weather Coral will peak over the weekend, where increased clouds, rain, thunderstorms and snowfall are expected even in the lower mountains.
"Friday through Sunday, the highest mountains will be in glacial day conditions. That is, both the maximum and minimum temperatures will be below zero. A very rare phenomenon for Cyprus," he said.
"The coldest conditions are expected from Sunday evening to Monday morning, as the mercury is forecast to fall below zero even in the interior at dawn. There will be frost," Tymvios said, adding that we will see single-digit temperatures during the day.
Similar conditions will prevail in coastal areas. "It will also approach zero, where we will have frost on crops, especially in Kokkinochoria."
The bad weather is expected to gradually weaken from Monday, while a week later, conditions will return to normal.
