WIND

A small and fast-moving tornado hit the area where a Chinese cruise ship capsized leaving more than 400 missing, weather officials said, possibly shedding light on the disaster's cause.

Sunny weather with light breezes are expected on Sunday for a summery start to Orthodox Easter Sunday. There will be some clouds in the afternoon. Wind velocity will reach a maximum of seven Beaufort in the east Aegean. Northern parts of the country will have mostly fair weather with temperatures from 5C to 22C.

Holy Thursday is typically a time for the mass Easter exodus to begin as people travel out of the cities to celebrate the feastday in the countryside. This year, extreme weather conditions are causing difficulties, especially for sea travel with wind velocity ranging from 7-9 Beaufort. There are local showers in central and eastern parts of the country. 

April 8, a date typically reserved for Spring weather in Greece, suddenly turned cold on Holy Wednesday with snow in mountain region. The Buffy camp at Mount Parnitha, north of Athens, has been covered with layers of snow after it started to snow at 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

Cloudiness over Bulgaria will remain significant and there will be several regions across the country that will experience light rain and snow.

Meanwhile, winds across Eastern Bulgaria will diminish to moderate levels from the north-west, as announced by the National Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology.

Rain and … Saharan dust made for a muddy mix in southern Greece on Thursday and Friday, with vehicles in the greater Athens area looking like they just competed in a Paris-Dakar race.
A brownish-reddish hue hung over the Greek capital for most of Friday, a combination of low cloud cover and the Saharan dust carried by balmy southern winds.

By Vangelis Mandravelis

Vodafone and Wind Hellas aim to create a major rival to fixed-line telephony market leader OTE through the absorption of Forthnet and Cyta Hellas, which would start with a subscription base of 2 million clients as well as over 500,000 pay-TV subscribers.

The weather forecast for Monday is overcast with local rain, even storms in the west, around all of Greece with light snowfall expected at higher elevations.

Mostly northerly winds are expected from 4 to 6 Beaufort, rising to 7 in the north and eastern mainland and the eastern Aegean Sea. Temperatures will range from at lows at around 6C to -1C up north and rise to 19C.

Weather is expected to be fair in most parts of the country on Wednesday, with clear skies and northerly winds, while wind velocity is expected to reach 5 on the Beaufort scale.
In the northern regions of Greece, scattered clouds are forecast and temperatures will range from 02C-14C.

Same weather is forecast in the western regions, where temperatures will reach 18C.

Weather is expected to be cloudy on Monday, with variable winds and chance of rain in many areas. Wind velocity will reach 6 on the Beaufort scale.

Weather will be cloudy in Northern Greece with temperatures ranging from -4C-12C.

In Central Greece, temperatures will be slightly higher, reaching 14C.