In depth analysis of the Athens Riviera climate and palm potential

[southathens]

4 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

 

Είναι θέμα συχνότητας επαναλήψεως και διαρκειας καθε φορά.  Οταν ειναι αραια τα φαινόμενα δεν αξιζει οικονομικα να δημιουργηθουν υποδομες. Ειναι  διαμετρικα παρόμοια η κατάσταση με αυτη των βορειων χωρων σε σχεση με φαινομενα καυσωνα.  Είπα οτι τα έχω ζησει ολα δεκαετια του 90 στην κεντρικη Ευρωπη. Ειδα κι εκει πως παρελυαν τα παντα με 25 εως 30 βαθμους το καλοκαίρι. Ούτε ανεμιστήρες δεν διέθεταν τα δημοσια κτήρια. Αν βέβαια τα ακραια αυτα φαινόμενα πολλαπλασιαστουν και γινουν συχνότερα, το ίδιο θα προσαρμοστούν υλικοτεχνολογικα και οι πληττόμενες ανθρώπινες κοινωνίες και θα αλλαξουν συνήθειες και οι άνθρωποι.

Σωστά, σου λέει τώρα ακόμα κ ο μέσος Αθηναίος, τι να κάτσω να ασχοληθώ να αγοράσω χιονολάστιχα ή αλυσίδες οταν το στρώνει μια φορά στα 10 με 15 χρόνια στην Αθήνα...Να όμως που έγινε το απροσδόκητο και είχαμε 2 συνεχόμενες χρονιές στρωμένη την Αθήνα. Ε, κάπως έτσι φαντάζομαι σκέφτεται και η πολιτική ηγεσία σε ότι αφορά τις υποδομές. 

[Phoenikakias]

12 minutes ago, Manos33 said:

Σωστά, σου λέει τώρα ακόμα κ ο μέσος Αθηναίος, τι να κάτσω να ασχοληθώ να αγοράσω χιονολάστιχα ή αλυσίδες οταν το στρώνει μια φορά στα 10 με 15 χρόνια στην Αθήνα...Να όμως που έγινε το απροσδόκητο και είχαμε 2 συνεχόμενες χρονιές στρωμένη την Αθήνα. Ε, κάπως έτσι φαντάζομαι σκέφτεται και η πολιτική ηγεσία σε ότι αφορά τις υποδομές. 

Σε όλον τον κοσμο έτσι ειναι και χειρότερα! Και στα πιο προηγμένα κράτη και ιδιαίτερα σε αυτά γιατι δεν είναι τυχαίως προηγμενα. Υπολογιζουν νεκρούς εν καιρω ειρήνης ως αναγκαίες απωλειες οικονομικου πολεμου, ως ένα απλο νούμερο στη ζυγαρια κόστους ωφέλους. Παρε για παραδειγμα την Γιαπωνία. Είναι άκρως σεισμογενής χωρα και εχει φάει και δύο τεμαχια στο κεφάλι, αλλα δεν κώλωσε να φτιάξει πυρηνικα εργοστασια παραγωγής ηλεκτρικής ενεργειας. Τη χωρα αυτή δεν τη λες ουτε ανοργανωτη, ουτε φτωχη (το αντίθετο), αλλα τελικα η στραβή έγινε στην Φουκουσιμα. Παρ όλα αυτά δεν σκέφθηκαν να αναστείλουν την παραγωγη ηλεκτρικης ενεργειας, προφανως οι απωλειες θεωρηθηκαν ανεπαρκείς για να αλλάξει η πλαστιγγα στη στάθμιση κοστους-ωφέλειας. Το ίδιο και η Κορεα, πεφταν αβερτα γεφυρες και ανατινάσσονταν δρομοι (λογω διαρροής ΦΑ) λογω διαφθοράς και κακοτεχνιών, αλλα δεν σκεφτηκαν ουτε στιγμη να μπάσσουν στην πιατσα ξένες εργοληπτικες εταιρίες, γιατι προφανώς στην πλάστιγγα κοστους ωφέλειας, οι όποιες απώλειες θεωρηθηκαν αποδεκτές. Ακουγομαι κυνικός, αλλα δεν ειμαι εγω, ο κόσμος είναι.

[Phoenikakias]

On 1/28/2022 at 6:25 PM, Alicante said:

Yep, that part. Thanks. Unfortunately I'm unable to read Greek. 

Completely amazing man, thank you for the pics! Do you know the high temps it had from 24 to 26th January? It would be interesting to see if that Roystonea took any damage and if it did, how much. This can help us as a future indicator. 

I have passed by today afternoon and the Roystonea still looks quite pristine. I talked also to locals, who confirmed that snow had settled on ground and plants foliage and caused also mechanical damage on several plants.

[Aceraceae]

Where is this one? 

[Phoenikakias]

5 hours ago, Aceraceae said:

Where is this one? 

In a south coast suburb of Athens, Greece

[Janni]

23 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

I have passed by today afternoon and the Roystonea still looks quite pristine. I talked also to locals, who confirmed that snow had settled on ground and plants foliage and caused also mechanical damage on several plants.

what a beauty!! Do you think it will show any damage in a couple of days or will it remain like this. It looks quite untouched.

 

How are things in your garden? Do you have many damaged plants?

Edited February 1, 2022 by Janni

[Phoenikakias]

1 hour ago, Janni said:

what a beauty!! Do you think it will show any damage in a couple of days or will it remain like this. It looks quite untouched.

 

How are things in your garden? Do you have many damaged plants?

I am entirely clueless regarding your first question, because I visited the location during night, therefore I was not able to observe any kinds of discoloration or other signs.  As for your second question  the only noticed damage so far (many palms are still wrapped) are a handful broken leaves, so only mechanical damage. From the palms, that were left uncovered, some have tender foliage to frost, such as Ravenea rivularis and Chamaedorea costaricana and glaucifolia. I used them as indicators of frost damage, but I noticed none. In a peculiar way, last year's cold spell turned out a bit more severe. But it is still to early for a final damage account. Here are a couple pictures of the Chamaedorea glaucifolia and Archontophoenix cunninghamiana after the cold spell. Note please that any damage observed on latter had been caused during summer because of the extraordinary heat. Finally most common palms in my climate do not bother at all about annual mean temp but they do a lot about extreme temperature both low and high. Finally I am not sure if the extended damage on my Kentias was caused exclusively by summer heat or can be partly attributed also to recend cold spell. I opt for the first possibility. They really took quite a beating during summer.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Phoenikakias

[southathens]

On 1/31/2022 at 9:13 PM, Phoenikakias said:

I have passed by today afternoon and the Roystonea still looks quite pristine. I talked also to locals, who confirmed that snow had settled on ground and plants foliage and caused also mechanical damage on several plants.

Wow, it looks so nice! I was wondering what happened to it! It's been many years since we had feedback on it. 

[southathens]

23 hours ago, Aceraceae said:

Where is this one? 

It is in Voula, in the Athens Riviera. One of the southernmost suburbs of Athens. 

[Aceraceae]

It looks great. Surprising it can be so well on the mainland connected to continental cold air and snow. Royals are only considered slightly more cold hardy (a few surviving in south Texas 2021 freeze), but must be a good bit more cool hardy than cocos, because this one seems great. If they were so close in performance, it would seem that cocos could survive on the best southern islands as well as Malaga, Spain and Haifa/Tel Aviv Israel etc. If they can't, then coconut/royal palms are not so close in cold tolerance. 

Maybe it will show some damage during the day a week after the snow event, as Janni was asking, but probably not. 

9 hours ago, Janni said:

what a beauty!! Do you think it will show any damage in a couple of days or will it remain like this. It looks quite untouched.

edit: It's already been over a week where does the time go. Looks like Athens had five days with highs around 40 (5 C)  and lows near freezing (0 to -1 C), including one day of only 35 degrees (2 C), and snow. Cocos would not survive that at all and here a royal looks fine. 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Aceraceae

[southathens]

3 hours ago, Aceraceae said:

. Looks like Athens had five days with highs around 40 (5 C)  and lows near freezing (0 to -1 C), including one day of only 35 degrees (2 C), and snow. Cocos would not survive that at all and here a royal looks fine. 

Last summer was brutal in Athens. 9 consecutive days of over 40C in downtown Athens between late July and early August and  also a few more days with 40C+ scattered throughout the summer. Glyfada just N of Voula registered its all time high with 45.2C last August so Voula would not be so far off.  Are cocos so sensitive to over 40C T's?

Below the T's in Glyfada Davis Fan Aspirated station for the first half of last August. 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Manos33

[Phoenikakias]

8 hours ago, Manos33 said:

Wow, it looks so nice! I was wondering what happened to it! It's been many years since we had feedback on it. 

Just some more information about that plant. It was bought from 'Socrates' (a nursery on the Kalymnou rd) in the 90's as a juvenile mingled with a batch of equally sized Arecastrum specimens. So this plant has survived all cold spells of the 21st century (2002, 2004, 2008, 2017, 2021) and (most importantly) kept growing instead of getting stunted.  But there is also an obscure aspect. Royals are known water hogs during summer, much more in our xerothermic one, so someone must have been taking care of the plant all that time. I am not sure if and whether this person has ever taken protective measures during the various cold spells, such as overhead covering (when smaller) or browsing with lukewarm water (when big).

[southathens]

2 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Just some more information about that plant. It was bought from 'Socrates' (a nursery on the Kalymnou rd) in the 90's as a juvenile mingled with a batch of equally sized Arecastrum specimens. So this plant has survived all cold spells of the 21st century (2002, 2004, 2008, 2017, 2021) and (most importantly) kept growing instead of getting stunted.  But there is also an obscure aspect. Royals are known water hogs during summer, much more in our xerothermic one, so someone must have been taking care of the plant all that time. I am not sure if and whether this person has ever taken protective measures during the various cold spells, such as overhead covering (when smaller) or browsing with lukewarm water (when big).

Wait, it survived 2004? Wow.

I mean ok it could have probably pulled off all the other cold spells since the minimums barely dropped to around or slightly below 0C in the Athens Riviera but 2004 was a big one. Hellenikon went down to -4.2C in 2004. Given that Voula is much more to the south compared to Hellinikon then let's say Voula dropped to around -3C that day. Would a Roystonea be able to cope with such a T?

[Phoenikakias]

38 minutes ago, Manos33 said:

Wait, it survived 2004? Wow.

I mean ok it could have probably pulled off all the other cold spells since the minimums barely dropped to around or slightly below 0C in the Athens Riviera but 2004 was a big one. Hellenikon went down to -4.2C in 2004. Given that Voula is much more to the south compared to Hellinikon then let's say Voula dropped to around -3C that day. Would a Roystonea be able to cope with such a T?

Someone gave the information once, that Roystonea regia, when bigger than a certain size, may be able to survive a lower temperature than say any Archontophoenix. It does not mean that it won't be trashed, but it will nevertheless survive, while Archontophoenix not. Plus that I am not sure whether it had enjoyed then some kind of protection, as I said. FYI my own specimen died outplanted (in a growth stage just before trunk formation) during the 2008 cold spell, but it was wrapped only with plastic, a fatal mistake, as I have learned afterwards.

[southathens]

34 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

Someone gave the information once, that Roystonea regia, when bigger than a certain size, may be able to survive a lower temperature than say any Archontophoenix. It does not mean that it won't be trashed, but it will nevertheless survive, while Archontophoenix not. Plus that I am not sure whether it had enjoyed then some kind of protection, as I said. FYI my own specimen died outplanted (in a growth stage just before trunk formation) during the 2008 cold spell, but it was wrapped only with plastic, a fatal mistake, as I have learned afterwards.

The Roystonea in Voula is in public property, in the pavement. Knowing Greece, how could someone offer it any kind of protection without dealing with a myriad of bureaucratic issues?

Unless of course the Municipality ordered the Green service to look out for it. Which I highly doubt 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Manos33

[bubba]

The Rio Grande Valley (Texas) had light snow several years ago that had no appreciable affect whatsoever on tropical palms. What were the minimum and maximum temperatures during this cold incursion? It is interesting that it coincides with the an arctic incursion that affected South Florida!

[southathens]

14 minutes ago, bubba said:

The Rio Grande Valley (Texas) had light snow several years ago that had no appreciable affect whatsoever on tropical palms. What were the minimum and maximum temperatures during this cold incursion? It is interesting that it coincides with the an arctic incursion that affected South Florida!

Check the min/max temps for the recent cold snap in Athens below.  These are the two closest coastal stations to coastal Voula where the Roystonea is currently located. T's never dropped below freezing in any area of coastal Athens/Athens Riviera during this cold snap.

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Manos33

[Alicante]

On 2/2/2022 at 12:44 PM, Phoenikakias said:

Someone gave the information once, that Roystonea regia, when bigger than a certain size, may be able to survive a lower temperature than say any Archontophoenix. It does not mean that it won't be trashed, but it will nevertheless survive, while Archontophoenix not. Plus that I am not sure whether it had enjoyed then some kind of protection, as I said. FYI my own specimen died outplanted (in a growth stage just before trunk formation) during the 2008 cold spell, but it was wrapped only with plastic, a fatal mistake, as I have learned afterwards.

This is true, Roystoneas are quite hardy when they are big, but they also require heat as much as possible, which in Athens happens from May to October (at least) this also explains why the Menton one is kind of suffering (his little brother died) while the Athens one even survived the 2004 cold spell. 

Small Roystoneas would have been affected by the recent cold spell (because of the lack of daytime heat) but big ones like this one would have only suffered if the low temps were too extreme, and luckily they weren't, I read in Athens most places remained above 0ºC which is good, also that trunk looks healthy. Can you re-visit it the next month? 

[Phoenikakias]

9 hours ago, Alicante said:

This is true, Roystoneas are quite hardy when they are big, but they also require heat as much as possible, which in Athens happens from May to October (at least) this also explains why the Menton one is kind of suffering (his little brother died) while the Athens one even survived the 2004 cold spell. 

Small Roystoneas would have been affected by the recent cold spell (because of the lack of daytime heat) but big ones like this one would have only suffered if the low temps were too extreme, and luckily they weren't, I read in Athens most places remained above 0ºC which is good, also that trunk looks healthy. Can you re-visit it the next month? For your info, last years cold spell had a bit lower temp than recent ineuui8i8

Lol you are very knowledgable and therefore cautious! Actually final damage account can be made only after coming May.  I would add that November here is also a month of active growth, because soil is still quite warm from past summer's heat and plenty of days are still sunny.  Of course I will revisit several times, I am just as curious as you. FYI I left last year all palms unprotected and did not notice any damage on foliage of Archontophoenix, Kentia and Gaussia maya.  But the duration was also considerably shorter.  Only C seifrizii showed some minor fungobacterial infection in meristem (manifested on emerged new leaf), but came fast over it in the course of past summer.

The impact of any cold spell on the time of growth resuming in the following warm season is however a very different story. Depending on sp some palms enter a shock stage and start growing again after a considerable time spent idle in the warm part of the year. If you have only 6 or 7 favorable months for  active growth within a whole year, such delay is rather a negative aspect.

[Alicante]

4 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Lol you are very knowledgable and therefore cautious! Actually final damage account can be made only after coming May.  I would add that November here is also a month of active growth, because soil is still quite warm from past summer's heat and plenty of days are still sunny.  Of course I will revisit several times, I am just as curious as you. FYI I left last year all palms unprotected and did not notice any damage on foliage of Archontophoenix, Kentia and Gaussia maya.  But the duration was also considerably shorter.  Only C seifrizii showed some minor fungobacterial infection in meristem (manifested on emerged new leaf), but came fast over it in the course of past summer.

The impact of any cold spell on the time of growth resuming in the following warm season is however a very different story. Depending on sp some palms enter a shock stage and start growing again after a considerable time spent idle in the warm part of the year. If you have only 6 or 7 favorable months for  active growth within a whole year, such delay is rather a negative aspect.

I fully agree with everything you have said! And one question, do you have any Ravenea on your garden? The Bottle Palm (Hyophorbe) is able to grow in Athens? 
 

[Phoenikakias]

27 minutes ago, Alicante said:

I fully agree with everything you have said! And one question, do you have any Ravenea on your garden? The Bottle Palm (Hyophorbe) is able to grow in Athens? 
 

First question yes (both glauca and rivularis, failure in the past with madagascariensis and still raising in pot in cold frame sambiranensis), second question unconditional NO.

[southathens]

An interesting climate statistic for the Athens Riviera which I think I overlooked previously is the mean annual sunshine. The HNMS station in Hellinikon the past 5 years is recording a mean annual sunshine of 3.005 hours.  I am not sure how this might affect tropical plants in the Athens Riviera but I thought I should post it here for future reference.  It's a pity that only a handful of NOA stations are recording mean annual sunshine values.

 

https://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/125840-european-capital-cities-sunshine-2021/

Edited February 5, 2022 by Manos33

[southathens]

Confirmation from HNMS Climate Atlas that the Athens Basin is the warmest area of Greece annually with a mean annual T of close to 20C alongside South Crete.  Mind you that this is limited only to HNMS stations data.  Additionally,  official averages from NOA stations suggest that Lindos in Rhodes is Greece's warmest area with a mean annual T of 21.9C which is much higher than any other area in geographical Europe. 

The pdf titled ''Το κλίμα της Ελλάδας'' (Greece's climate) is found in the HNMS Climate Atlas link below but unfortunately it is only in Greek.

http://climatlas.hnms.gr/sdi/

Here is the relevant screenshot

[Phoenikakias]

On 2/8/2022 at 7:22 AM, Manos33 said:

Confirmation from HNMS Climate Atlas that the Athens Basin is the warmest area of Greece annually with a mean annual T of close to 20C alongside South Crete.  Mind you that this is limited only to HNMS stations data.  Additionally,  official averages from NOA stations suggest that Lindos in Rhodes is Greece's warmest area with a mean annual T of 21.9C which is much higher than any other area in geographical Europe. 

The pdf titled ''Το κλίμα της Ελλάδας'' (Greece's climate) is found in the HNMS Climate Atlas link below but unfortunately it is only in Greek.

http://climatlas.hnms.gr/sdi/

Here is the relevant screenshot

Three Royals in New Smyrna!

[southathens]

On 2/11/2022 at 4:33 PM, Phoenikakias said:

Three Royals in New Smyrna!

Wow amazing!

Where exactly in Nea Smyrni are they located?

[Phoenikakias]

1 hour ago, Manos33 said:

Wow amazing!

Where exactly in Nea Smyrni are they located?

Gotcha lol

[southathens]

Hehe

Given how mild the climate in Nea Smyrni, Athens is I bet Royals would thrive.  The Royal in Voula proves this

[Aceraceae]

Even New Smyrna Beach in north FL gets pretty cold fronts for royals anyway, though averages are much more favorable. 

[Janni]

On 1/31/2022 at 8:13 PM, Phoenikakias said:

...

did anyone check on this palm lately, if it still looks healthy? Now the days are getting warmer in Athens, so I think it should be visible, if there is any damage of the coldspell. If there is nothing visible yet, then probably the potential damage could be limited to a deformed growth of the next spear. I hope there is nothing more to come.

 

Btw: @Konstantine: do you know, if this royal was placed there intentionally (i.e. with knowledge about the species) or did they think it is a regular queen palm, like the others of the row?

[Phoenikakias]

 

3 hours ago, Janni said:

did anyone check on this palm lately, if it still looks healthy? Now the days are getting warmer in Athens, so I think it should be visible, if there is any damage of the coldspell. If there is nothing visible yet, then probably the potential damage could be limited to a deformed growth of the next spear. I hope there is nothing more to come.

 

Btw: @Konstantine: do you know, if this royal was placed there intentionally (i.e. with knowledge about the species) or did they think it is a regular queen palm, like the others of the row?

All remarks are correct plus interesting question. I do not know, but I believe that people had not been aware of the different sp, given that rest palms on the line are (or had been because a large one died due trunk damage‐ while the royal still survives lol) Arecastrum.

[southathens]

A new significant cold snap is set to affect much of Greece in about a week. There is a fairly good chance that it will snow in various parts of Athens. Last time snow settled in downtown Athens during March was in the epic 1987 cold snap...

[southathens]

Snow flurries yesterday in downtown Athens. The whole thing lasted around 30 minutes but the North suburbs saw good snow and locally snow settled over 350 m altitude. The south suburbs were much less affected.

I doubt any real damage to tropical fruits was done as Ts remained around 3C to 5C during the snow showers in most of central and south Athens. Tomorrow also there is a good chance that some snowfall will take place again in some parts of Athens.

[Victor G.]

On 3/11/2022 at 10:30 AM, Manos33 said:

Snow flurries yesterday in downtown Athens. The whole thing lasted around 30 minutes but the North suburbs saw good snow and locally snow settled over 350 m altitude. The south suburbs were much less affected.

I doubt any real damage to tropical fruits was done as Ts remained around 3C to 5C during the snow showers in most of central and south Athens. Tomorrow also there is a good chance that some snowfall will take place again in some parts of Athens.

Got hit pretty hard last night I would say. (The map is the lowest temperatures of Sunday morning)

I don't think that the tropical fruit suffered significant damage either, but it's likely that anyone growing tropical fruits will suffer a serious setback this year. Temps way to low for middle of March

[southathens]

yep last night was the second coldest in 2022 after the snow spell of January. Clear skies over the Athens Basin plummeted Ts. 

There will be setbacks for most growers in Athens this year. That's for sure. It is still amazing though that the Royal in Voula has escaped January's snow spell with no damage!

Tatoi airport up in North Athens registered -2.7C last night!! That was close to the March all time record low for the area. 

The Athens Riviera was much milder though with Ts dropping to around 1.5C to 2C

Preliminary data suggest that there is a strong possibility this will be the coldest March on record from the epic March of 1987 in the Athens Basin. Given that we are headed for a new cold spell next weekend!!!

Edited March 13, 2022 by Manos33

[southathens]

On 1/31/2022 at 9:13 PM, Phoenikakias said:

I have passed by today afternoon and the Roystonea still looks quite pristine. I talked also to locals, who confirmed that snow had settled on ground and plants foliage and caused also mechanical damage on several plants.

Καλησπέρα ξανά! Ξέρεις σε ποιά όδο βρίσκεται ακριβώς ώστε να περάσω να το δω και εγώ μια από αυτές τις μέρες?

[Alicante]

3 hours ago, Manos33 said:

yep last night was the second coldest in 2022 after the snow spell of January. Clear skies over the Athens Basin plummeted Ts. 

There will be setbacks for most growers in Athens this year. That's for sure. It is still amazing though that the Royal in Voula has escaped January's snow spell with no damage!

Tatoi airport up in North Athens registered -2.7C last night!! That was close to the March all time record low for the area. 

The Athens Riviera was much milder though with Ts dropping to around 1.5C to 2C

Preliminary data suggest that there is a strong possibility this will be the coldest March on record from the epic March of 1987 in the Athens Basin. Given that we are headed for a new cold spell next weekend!!!

These lows aren't any problem (they can easily take light freezes as long as they're not extreme, much better if it's above freezing) the problem are chilly/low maximum temperatures. 

Palms suffer, stop growing and don't recover themselves at low maximum temperatures, especially highs under 10ºC. Is chilly weather coming again at the end of the next week?

I've "Googled" the forecast for Athens and it shows that after the upcoming Friday, high temps will be again 8-9ºC and lows 3-4ºC. How often does this happen during March?

Edited March 13, 2022 by Alicante

[southathens]

1 hour ago, Alicante said:

How often does this happen during March?

Almost never. At least I don't remember it ever happening before. I was only a small child in March 1987 so I don't remember what was happening back then. It is a real possibility that at least in terms of Ts this March will even be colder than 1987.

Now in terms of maximums the Athens Riviera will only be less than 10C max on Saturday

https://www.yr.no/en/forecast/daily-table/2-256575/Greece/Attica/Nomarchía Athínas/Néa Smýrni

Downtown Athens is traditionally around 1-2C less in terms of winter maximums compared to the Athens Riviera. 

I actually have a feeling that winter maxes in South Athens might even be a bit higher than what the meteorological station averages suggest. For example the warmest meteorological station in Athens and Continental Europe annually the past decade , which is the Nea Smyrni NOA station, is situated at an amazing location for observations. The location of the station is at the roof of the local elementary school in a lavish huge green garden which would probably cool down significantly T maxes compared to the rest urban surrounding. 

 

 

Looking at the mean max of March I would say that the true mean max for the area is more likely closer to 19C+, which goes to show how exceptionally unusual this kind of cold snap is for March.

Below some pictures of the beautiful garden where the official meteorological station of the National Observatory of Athens in Nea Smyrni  is located.  At the same garden also a seismograph and a professional telescope from the National Observatory of Athens are located as the school is considered a ''model/pilot'' public school officially according to the Greek authorities.  The school has featured many times on the news in Greece.

The view of the garden where the Nea Smyrni NOA station is located from Google Earth

 

And here some other pictures I could find

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2022 by Manos33

[Victor G.]

1 hour ago, Alicante said:

These lows aren't any problem (they can easily take light freezes as long as they're not extreme, much better if it's above freezing) the problem are chilly/low maximum temperatures. 

Palms suffer, stop growing and don't recover themselves at low maximum temperatures, especially highs under 10ºC.

Yup, that was the problem; max temperatures stayed well below 10C these past 3-4 days. At least in most places.

Check out the maps below; they show for 10-11-12 March the maximum temperature difference comparing to the average max values of  2010-2019.
It was 10-11C below the average for at least three consecutive days

[southathens]

2 minutes ago, Victor G. said:

Yup, that was the problem; max temperatures stayed well below 10C these past 3-4 days. At least in most places.

Check out the maps below; they show for 10-11-12 March the maximum temperature difference comparing to the average max values of  2010-2019.
It was 10-11C below the average for at least three consecutive days

yep, even though I think that specifically for South Athens and the Athens Riviera it must have been close to 13C below averages. Check my previous post where I explain why. 

[Alicante]

3 hours ago, Manos33 said:

Almost never. At least I don't remember it ever happening before. I was only a small child in March 1987 so I don't remember what was happening back then. It is a real possibility that at least in terms of Ts this March will even be colder than 1987.

Now in terms of maximums the Athens Riviera will only be less than 10C max on Saturday

https://www.yr.no/en/forecast/daily-table/2-256575/Greece/Attica/Nomarchía Athínas/Néa Smýrni

Downtown Athens is traditionally around 1-2C less in terms of winter maximums compared to the Athens Riviera. 

I actually have a feeling that winter maxes in South Athens might even be a bit higher than what the meteorological station averages suggest. For example the warmest meteorological station in Athens and Continental Europe annually the past decade , which is the Nea Smyrni NOA station, is situated at an amazing location for observations. The location of the station is at the roof of the local elementary school in a lavish huge green garden which would probably cool down significantly T maxes compared to the rest urban surrounding. 

 

 

Looking at the mean max of March I would say that the true mean max for the area is more likely closer to 19C+, which goes to show how exceptionally unusual this kind of cold snap is for March.

Below some pictures of the beautiful garden where the official meteorological station of the National Observatory of Athens in Nea Smyrni  is located.  At the same garden also a seismograph and a professional telescope from the National Observatory of Athens are located as the school is considered a ''model/pilot'' public school officially according to the Greek authorities.  The school has featured many times on the news in Greece.

The view of the garden where the Nea Smyrni NOA station is located from Google Earth

 

And here some other pictures I could find

 

 

 

Nice garden. I have one question, how UHI-influenced is? Looking at the info/pics you've provided, it seems to be in a strong UHI area, as it's in a high density urbanised area and it also looks sheltered by bigger nearby buildings. And yes, it's of course better to have some plants/grass below than just concrete, but I don't know its impact on a rooftop.

It's nice to see that garden on that rooftop. Cities in Europe should do more rooftop gardens like people do in New York. Since we don't have too much available space on the ground (as all it's filled with buildings) rooftops are a good option to reduce UHI, heat and to reduce pollution. So do you think Nea Smyrni is 1-2ºC warmer than Downtown Athens?
 

2 hours ago, Victor G. said:

Yup, that was the problem; max temperatures stayed well below 10C these past 3-4 days. At least in most places.

Check out the maps below; they show for 10-11-12 March the maximum temperature difference comparing to the average max values of  2010-2019.
It was 10-11C below the average for at least three consecutive days

Oh, thanks for that map, it clearly shows the anomaly. Do you have another one regarding the SE Islands such as Rhodes and Kasos? It's indeed far from normal for this season.

I do agree these temps are way under average and definetly NOT normal. Like I have said in the other thread, as right now, it's 6.5ºC in Lindos for example. Come on, I'm not an expert in Greek climates, but it definetly sounds as very rare and abnormal to have such temps anywhere in the island of Rhodes in the middle of March. These are definetly rare temps!

Edited March 13, 2022 by Alicante