The average rainfall from the beginning of December to 8am on Tuesday amounted to just 32 per cent of the normal precipitation for the month, the met service said in a statement.

Specifically, according to the data, the average rainfall was 33.5mm, while the normal figure for the month is 105.6mm.

Things look brighter for the season as a whole however with average rainfall from October 1 up to December 26 reaching 95 per cent of the normal precipitation for the period, corresponding to 181.6mm.

Finally, reservoirs in Cyprus are 66.8 per cent full, corresponding to 194.2 million cubic metres. Last year’s percentage in the same period amounted to 48.2 per cent.