THUNDER, lightening, strong winds, rain and even snow are on the cards today and possibly tomorrow, Meteorological Service Head, Kyriakos Theofilou, warned yesterday.
But despite the gloomy weather that has shrouded the island since Monday, he could not predict whether the rainfall would last further into the spring.
“All I can say is, since Monday afternoon, the temperature has dropped because of low pressures centred around the western part of the island. Our predictions only stretch as far as five days ahead and are based on scientific methods and measurements. We do not make guesses in the meteorology department,” he said.
Theofilou said that thick clouds would be forming in places around the island today, and that local rains were to be expected, as well as more light snowfall in the mountains.
“Storms cannot be ruled out,” he added “and temperatures will average at 16-18 degrees Centigrade, which is below this time of the year’s average”.
Theofilou warned motorists to beware over the next few days as sudden showers and hailstones could not be pinpointed to particular parts of the island, but would be sporadic and dangerous.
Although five centimetres of snow were recorded on Mount Olympus and three centimetres in Troodos Square, skiers should not get too excited, Theofilou said.
“If it does snow, it will be very slight,” he said, adding that one metre of snow was out of the question.
But the upside of this rainy spell is that at 8am yesterday the meteorological service had measured 29.5 mm of rainfall overnight.
“In other words, 48 per cent of the month’s average rainfall,” Theofilou said, “and cumulatively, from October 1 until today, we have had 113 per cent of the island’s average rainfall for this period.”
Theofilou refused to comment whether the wet winter meant we’d be lining up for a scorching summer, saying such theories were not based on scientific evidence.
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