WIND

Weather is expected to be mostly fair on Sunday, with chance of rain in the eastern regions of Greece and the islands.

Wind velocity will reach 5 on the Beaufort scale.

Temperatures will be low in most parts of the country, ranging from -2C to 14C.

Partly cloudy in Athens, 3C-12C. Mostly fair in Thessaloniki, 0C- 11C.

Weather is expected to be cloudy on Saturday, with a chance of rain over the islands.

Northerly winds are forecast and wind velocity is expected to reach 5 on the Beaufort scale.

Weather will be fair in most regions of Northern Greece, with temperatures ranging from -03C-10C.

Same weather is forecast in the western regions, with temperatures reaching 15C.

Strong winds of up to 10 on the Beaufort scale on Friday forced the cancellation of several ferry departures from the country?s main ports, including Piraeus and Lavrio, but services resumed later in the day.

Weather is expected to improve on Thursday, with slightly higher temperatures and mostly southeasterly winds. Wind velocity will reach 7 on the Beaufort scale.

Scattered clouds are forecast in the northern regions of the country with temperatures ranging from 04C-14C.

Weather will be mostly fair in western Greece with temperatures between 08C-17C.

Strong winds caused problems in Thessaloniki on Monday morning.

Road signs and scaffolding was blown onto a section of the city?s ring road, forcing it to be shut down.

A number of trees were blown over in various parts of the city, forcing the fire service to help clear roads and sidewalks.

Region blanketed by snow, cold snap to continue

Snow helped by strong winds blanketed most of the Western Balkans, with air temperatures dropping to below freezing and getting colder by the hour on Monday.

The cold weather is set to continue the next few days, according to forecasters.

The National Meteorology Administration (ANM) has issued on Friday a Yellow Code warning of snows, strong wind, mixed precipitations, ice for the south, southeastern and locally central Romania, and in the Southern and Oriental Carpathians valid from December 26, 20:00 hrs until December 27, 20:00 hrs.

By Vangelis Mandravelis

Wind Hellas head Nassos Zarkalis said on Wednesday that the due diligence of rival telecommunications company Forthnet will soon be completed and a joint binding bid by Wind and Vodafone for the country’s main alternative telecom supplier will come after the Christmas holidays.

Greece will raise 381 million euros from the sale of mobile phone frequencies to its biggest telecom operator OTE, Vodafone and Wind Hellas, the minimum price set in the tender, its telecoms regulator said on Monday.

The sale is part of a 22-billion-euro privatization plan agreed with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund under a 240-billion-euro bailout.

The freak mini-tornadoes that have recently been hitting Istanbul are possibly one result of the city’s rapid urbanization, according to leading climate change researchers in the United States.