The past year 2024 was the hottest in Greece in the last 30 years, breaking the record set in 2023, according to data from the climatebook.gr scientific group for climate assessment of the year, cited by ANA-MPA.
Specifically, 2024 was the warmest in the country since 1991, with an average annual temperature of 16 degrees. The average maximum temperature in all regions of Greece was higher than the average value of the indicator for the period 1991 – 2020
According to the data, 77 percent of the days recorded positive temperature deviations, making the effects of climate change noticeable in all seasons.
The Director of Research at the Institute for Environmental and Sustainable Development Research of the Athens National Observatory, Dr. Konstantinos Lagouvardos, defined the weather behavior in 2024 as “extreme”, because the temperature deviations throughout Greece were +1.8 degrees compared to the average for the climatic period 1991 - 2020. He emphasized that “in almost all months of the year there were temperatures above normal values“.
At the same time, 2024 was the hottest year on a global scale with average temperatures 1.6 degrees higher than those in the pre-industrial era (1850 – 1900). A very important indicator, said Lagouvardos, is also the increase in carbon dioxide levels on the planet, with their average value in 2024 reaching 422.1 ppm, which is 2.9 ppm more than the average for 2023.
In 85 out of 92 days of the summer of 2024, temperatures with very high positive deviations were recorded in Greece. Specifically, June 2024 was the hottest in recent decades with prolonged periods of high temperatures.
According to the data of the working group, the largest positive deviations (between +2.1 and +2.3 degrees) were recorded in Western and Northern Greece, and the lowest – on the island of Crete.
“The regions that are warming the fastest in our country are the areas in Northern Greece, which are far from the sea, and we are also observing this outside (our) borders, in the Balkan countries, Bulgaria, Romania“, said Lagouvardos.
In terms of precipitation, 2024 was the ninth driest year in the thirty-year period.