The Fire Department on Thursday said it received around 20 calls for assistance for various incidents caused by strong winds across the island.

By the afternoon, the department responded to 17 incidents in Nicosia, three in Limassol and one in Larnaca.

These included tree falls – in two cases on vehicles without any passengers inside – while the gusts blew away billboards and solar heaters.

At the port in Limassol, at least one container was shifted out of position.

Earlier in the day police had warned drivers on the Limassol to Paphos motorway to be careful citing rainfall and strong winds, as a yellow weather warning for very strong winds was in force.

A yellow alert was in place until 3pm on Thursday afternoon warning of very strong to near gale southwesterly to westerly winds force 6 to 7 Beaufort while similar direction gale force winds 8 Beaufort, with gusts locally of 9 Beaufort, affected the west, the north and south coastal areas at times.

Snow, previously at 25cm depth, was also falling in the mountains on Thursday, with police issuing an announcement that roads leading to Troodos were open only for vehicles with snow chains or four-wheel drive cars. There was also dense fog in the area, police added.

Temperatures were around 14C inland, 16C on the coast an 4C in the mountains.

Friday will be partly cloudy, with temperatures edging up to close to the seasonal average. Saturday and Sunday will be partly cloudy and at intervals cloudy, with the possibility of local rain.