July saw 16 consecutive days of 40C plus

July 2023 broke multiple heat records as the Cleon weather system smothered Cyprus, leading to one of the warmest months with 16 days in a row of over 40^oC degrees.

The met office on Monday offered an analysis of the measurements which found that the previous record set by the office’s station at Athalassa for consecutive days of over 40C was in 2000, with 12 days.

“Also noteworthy [is] that not only during these 16 consecutive days the maximum daily temperature fluctuated above 40^oC, but was also greater than or equal to 42^oC.

“Never before until today had there been so many consecutive days with such high temperatures in the month of July, for the Athalassa station,” it was explained.

All weather stations have recorded extremely high maximum temperatures for July. At the Athalassa station the highest maximum temperature recorded was 44.6^oC, which ranks it in first place, the same as the maximum recorded in July 2017.

The met office emphasised that at four of the five main reference stations – the one at Prodromos being the exception – the average daily temperature is the highest ever recorded.

“While at all stations the average daily temperature is higher than the corresponding normal for the month,” it added.

It further stressed that another important characteristic is the absolute 40C degrees that has been recorded as the average daily maximum temperature in Athalassa.

At all stations the average temperature has a positive deviation from the corresponding normal of the month, with this deviation ranging from 2.5^oC to 2.9^oC.

The daily maximum temperatures recorded at the stations were also very high. At all stations, a positive deviation of daily minimum temperature was recorded in relation to the corresponding normal of each station, with this deviation ranging from 1.3^oC to 2.6^oC.

Additionally, it detailed that the Larnaca and Paphos airport stations recorded their highest average daily temperatures in July – ranking them as the stations with the warmest July.

The second highest average daily temperatures were recorded at the Athalassa station, Akrotiri and Prodromos, ranking them in second place in relation to the corresponding warmest July.

In general, the average daily temperature has fluctuated by 2.1-2.7^oC above the normal for the month.

In addition to the 44.6^oC recorded at Athalassa, at Larnaca and Paphos airports, the highest maximum temperature recorded in July this year were 40.4^oC and 38.1^oC, respectively, ranking both these stations in third place. The extreme maximum at Larnaca airport was recorded in July 1998 (41.1^oC) and at Paphos airport in July 2017 (41.6^oC).

At Akrotiri, the highest maximum temperature recorded in July this year was 38^oC, ranking the station in seventh place, after 1977 where the extreme maximum temperature had reached 40.2^oC.

Finally, the Prodromos station ranked in the eighth place for this July, with its maximum temperature reaching 34.5^oC, after 2017 when it took its first place with the temperature climbing to 36.7^oC.

“The general conclusion is that this year’s July is, for the island, one of the warmest Julys during which several temperature records have either been re-recorded or surpassed,” the met office’s report concluded.