40C plus to last until Thursday

Temperatures over 40 degrees C are expected to bake the island until Thursday, the director of the meteorological service Kleanthis Nicolaides said on Monday, as the office issued a yellow weather warning, following a weekend of amber warnings.

He said that after temperatures hit as high as 43-45C over the weekend, the yellow warning was put in place as the temperatures inland would fall slightly to 41 degrees, 35-27 on the coast, and 32 in the mountains.

“No significant change is expected, in the next days until Wednesday-Thursday,” he said.

He added it will be over 40 degrees until then, noting that the normal temperatures for this time of the year are 37-38 degrees inland, and on the coast 30-33, while in the mountains it is 28 degrees.

He said that it is not the first time that Cyprus has been affected by such high temperatures, but he emphasised that 45 degrees C is not common.

Records of 42 or even 43 degrees C, and even more often 40 or 41 degrees are more common.

He said that from 10:00am until 5:00pm are high risk hours when there is a lot of radiation especially during the noon hours, 12-3, when the heat is extremely dangerous due to the intensity of the solar radiation.

“Every eight hours a weather forecast is issued, while when required a warning is also issued in order to either inform the public at the yellow level to take preventive measures, at the orange level or if we have a red level, there will be prohibitive measures,” he said.

He recommended that the public and especially vulnerable groups to avoid being outside, to drink cool water, to remain in the shade, and to wear loose light-coloured clothing.

Nicolaides said that for the last five to six days Cyprus has been affected by a high-pressure system which extends from the Atlantic region. It is the Azores high pressure system, a permanent high-pressure system that affects the country both in winter and summer.