Freezing conditions prevailed in the mountainous areas of Greece on Thursday with the lowest temperature of -27.8 Celsius to have been recorded in the doline* of Vathystalos on Moint Parnassus in central Greece, at 9 o’ clock in the morning.
Reason for the freezing temperatures are the clear skies at night, the absence of wind and the already snowed or frozen ground.
According to Athens National Observatory’s meteo stations network/meteo.gr the lowest temperatures were recorded at the Lailias mountain cabin in the region of Serres (-11.8C) while very low temperatures were also recorded at Volakas in Nevrokopi (-11.6C), Vlasti, Kozani (-10.5C), in Grevena (-9.7C), in Vovousa, Ioannina (-9.4C), and at the ski resort Kellaria, Mount Parnassus (-9.1C).
Also in urban centers like Athens temperatures are low even though several degrees above the freezing point.
However, meteorologists in the country forecast a change for the better, with south winds, higher temperatures and sunshine over the Christmas days.
*A doline (or sinkhole as it is more commonly called in North America) is a natural enclosed depression found in karst landscapes. Dolines are the most common landform in karst areas. They are described as small to medium sized closed depressions, ranging from metres to tens of metres in both diameter and depth.
Dolines are surrounded by higher ridges, which isolate them from the wider air circulation. Thus, they are characterized by long periods of frost and by extreme values of minimum temperatures, even in the summer months, notes meteo,gr.