PEOPLE were taken by surprise yesterday, waking up to an usually crisp post Boxing Day morning, with temperatures plummeting below zero in many areas.
“Temperatures are seven to eight degrees lower than normal, and because of the chilling effect it seems a lot colder than it is,” senior meteorology officer Loizos Stephanou told the Cyprus Mail.
Maximum temperatures inland barely rose to between six and seven degrees, but were expected to drop to minus two in the evening, he said.
Coastal areas enjoyed slightly warmer weather during the day with temperatures rising to 10 degrees and expected to remain just above zero throughout the night.
Hardest hit by yesterday cold spell were those in the mountain villages, with temperatures remaining below zero throughout the day.
“Maximum temperatures are not expected to exceed minus three degrees in Troodos and Prodromos and at night might drop to as low as minus seven degrees,” Stephanou said.
“We’ve had temperatures like these before in December, January and February so you can’t say it’s a rare phenomenon, but what makes it worse is this chilling factor which makes it seems colder than it is. For instance if temperatures are minus one and there are 32 kilometre per hour winds, then it feels like the temperature is minus eight.”
He said the island was currently facing 30 kilometre north to north-easterly winds from Russia and Turkey which had brought about the sudden drop in temperature.
“By tomorrow we expect temperatures steadily to increase, with maximum temperatures rising to 10 or 11 degrees inland and up to 13 to 14 degrees by the weekend, which is still one or two degrees below the norm, but still not as cold as at the moment,” Stephanou said.
Although the weatherman said he was not equipped to give out health warnings, he advised that anyone sensitive to the cold or suffering from a cold should stay indoors where it was warm rather than walk about and risk getting even more sick.
Readers’ views were varied about the unexpected cold spell.
“I love it. It’s got a real Christmasy feel to it. I hate December when it’s sunny and bright. That’s nothing like what you imagine this time of year to be like. It’s nice to feel it’s all cold outside and you can stay tucked up by a log fire indoors with a mug of hot chocolate, a couple of mince pies and good book in hand. It’s just bliss,” Maria Ioannou said.
However her 34-year-old sister, Andrea, who had to drag herself out of bed and into work this morning, did not share her sister’s enthusiasm.
“I’m frozen. My feet are like two blocks of ice and I can’t feel my nose. I’m supposed to be going out tonight and all I want to do is leave the office, go home, have a hot bath and get back into bed. I can’t wait for the temperature to rise by the weekend because I just can’t take it,” she said.
Meanwhile skiers anxiously waiting for the onset of the island’s skiing season were happy to note that yesterday’s freezing temperatures brought on five to six centimetres of snow, with police closing 20 different mountain roads to all vehicles expect four wheel drives or cars equipped with tyre chains.
