Greek climate is typical Mediterranean, mild and humid winters, relatively warm and dry summers and generally long times of sunlight during the biggest part of the year. Greece is among the 340 and 420 parallels of the north hemisphere and is surrounded at the east side by the Mediterranean Sea. Its climate has Mediterranean characteristics as mentioned above. However, there are lots of varieties of the Mediterranean climate according to the region because of the country topology, with big height differences (there are big mountain chains and massifs in mainland) and often alternations between land and sea. As a result East Greece has a dry climate at the north and west part of the country we have humid climate. Such climate differences are also encountered even between nearby regions and that is a phenomenon that is observed in very few countries in the world.
According to a climate view the year can be separated in two main seasons: the cold and rainy winter time that lasts from the middle October until the end of March and the warm and dry season from April until October.
During the first season the coldest months are January and February, where the average minimum temperature is 5-10^oC in offshore regions, 0-5^oC in mainland regions and temperatures below absolute zero in north regions.
In our country, even during the winter, rains do not last for long and the sky is not cloudy for many days in a row, like in other countries. The bad weather during winter is often interrupted during January and early February by sunny days, also known from the antiquity as “Alkyonides”.
Winter is milder in the Ionian and Aegean Islands than in North and East Greece.
During the warm and dry season the weather is stable, the sky is clear, the sun is shiny and it does not rain, except some storms of small duration though.
The warmest season is the last ten days of July and the first ten days of August, where the average maximum temperature is 29-35^oC. During this season the high temperatures are tempered by the cool sea breeze in offshore regions and by the north winds especially in the Aegean Sea.
Spring does not last long, since winter comes late and summer comes early. Autumn is long and warm and sometimes in south Greece is extended until the middle of December.
Source: National Weather Service