By Stefanos Evripidou
MORE heavy rain in the past couple of days has been good news for the island’s 17 dams, which have enjoyed a surge in capacity in one of the wettest Februaries in recent years.
The dams were yesterday 54.7 per cent full, almost six per cent up on a week ago, and compared to 48.9 per cent at the same time last year.
“Over 1.8 million cubic metres of rain has entered the dams over the last 24 hours,” said Phedros Roussis of the Water Development Department yesterday. This brings the total to 149.6 million cubic metres, 16.6 million more than last Thursday.
Meteorological Services officer Klitos Pyotis said yesterday that an average 11mm of rainfall had fallen on the island in the last 24 hours, bringing average rainfall for the whole of February to date up to 116mm. “This represents 42 per cent above the average rainfall for the month of February. It’s definitely been a rainy month,” he added.
From the start of the hydrometeorological year on October 1 until the end of February, total rainfall has reached 370mm, representing 99 per cent of average rainfall for that period at 10 days before the month’s end.
Met Service director Kyriacos Theophilou, said low pressure movements would continue to affect the region. “The weather will continue to be cloudy in patches with rain and some snow in the higher regions. Temperatures will drop slightly to 13C inland, 15C on the coast and 1C in the mountains,” said Theophilou.
Unfortunately for those planning a weekend out of town, the forecast does not looking bright. The weather for the next three days will remain unsettled with occasional sunshine and scattered showers. Some snowfall is expected in the mountains again.
Theophilou maintained that the forecast was only for three days ahead but said he believed that Cyprus was not at risk from the harsher weather experienced by parts of Greece. “Greece is further north and mainly affected by pressure from Central Europe,” he said.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
