The summer is expected to be hot and dry, accompanied by summer thunderstorms which appear not to be linked to climate change, met office spokesman Andreas Chrysanthou said on Saturday.

“These summer thunderstorms are a common occurrence, especially in mountainous areas,” he said.

Chrysanthou stressed that according to studies by the met department, weather instability was a common phenomenon in the region, particularly in the higher mountains and inland, where such instability traditionally occurs and may last until mid-July, while the hottest time of the year is expected from mid-July until mid-August.

“Any instability caused by the dry atmosphere is limited to that period,” he said.

He added that June is expected to come to a close with high temperatures following a particularly cool first half as temperatures are expected to reach an average of 37 degrees Celsius inland, ranking slightly above the seasonal average of 33 to 34 degrees.

“We’re 2–4 degrees above average in some cases. Nothing extreme. We’re wrapping up a very cool June, with plenty of summer showers in our mountainous regions,” he said.

Chrysanthou said that the cool June follows a patter of what he described as a “very good year” in hydrological terms that began in December 2025 and continued until today, stressing that the increased soil moisture was crucial for the prevention of forest fires.

“The rainfall acts as a deterrent both to the outbreak and the spread of wildfires,” he said.

He added that from now on, a dry and hot summer was expected, with temperatures expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius, particularly in inland areas, just as in previous years.

“There are no indications that things will be any different,” he said.

Regarding the weather forecast for the weekend, he said that temperatures are expected to rise, while rain is forecast for mountainous and some inland areas, particularly on Saturday, with unstable weather conditions expected to continue throughout Wednesday.

“Possibly in some inland areas, we will see some rain, and possibly some thunderstorms. This is especially true today, as well as on Monday and Tuesday,” he said.

He added that the weather is expected to be mostly clear from Wednesday onwards.