For rainfall heights comparable to those experienced on the southern slopes of the Alps when warm and warm Mediterranean air impinges on themsaid the meteorologist, vice-president of the Board of Directors of the Center for Crisis Management Studies of the GPP, Dimitris Ziakopoulos, during a press conference held today at the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection for the bad weather “Daniel”.

As Mr. Ziakopoulos said, this is a phenomenon “that is not over yet which is unprecedented in meteorological annals of the place, that is, since we have records”.

According to the observations from the available network of weather stations of both the EMY, the Observatory and other stations, as Mr. Ziakopoulos pointed out, it seems that 600-800 millimeters of rain fell in the mountainous region of Magnesia in a 24-hour period. “It is a huge amount for Greek times and for most regions of Europe,” he noted. At the same time, as he underlined, “in lowland Thessaly, the 24-hour amounts of precipitation, of rain, were between 400-500 millimeters, which is also a very high value”.

“The 600-800 millimeters are comparable to those millimetres, the records I would say, which are set mainly on the southern slopes of the Alps when hot and warm Mediterranean air hits them,” said Mr. Ziakopoulos.

Regarding what is expected in the next few hours as well as tomorrow, Mr. Ziakopoulos said that in the regions of Thessaly and especially in the regions of the prefectures of Karditsa, Trikala and in the westernmost regions of the prefectures of Larissa and Magnesia as well as in the northernmost regions of Fthiotida, there tonight and until about noon tomorrow things will be pretty rough. As he noted, “models are predicting 200 to 250 millimeters of rain.” “We all hope that the plain will endure in the sense that they will not overflow, that they will not break dams or that rivers will not overflow,” he emphasized.

Also, as he pointed out, at the same hours in the area of ​​Magnesia, that is, in the middle of the night, there will be some recession of the phenomena but expected “one last round until approx tomorrow at noon, everywhere we will again have phenomena of quite high intensity”. Mr. Ziakopoulos noted that he wants a lot of attention because, as he said, “the infrastructure and people and everyone are overworked in general”.

In the region of Magnesia, Northern Sporades and Northeastern Fthiotida, as Mr. Ziakopoulos pointed out, things will be relatively good until around tomorrow morning, adding that “the rains will not stop, they will just not have the intensity of the previous rains” . However, as he said, in the morning tomorrow until noon, an intensity of the phenomena is expected in these areas as well, a fact that, he added, “requires great attention”.

Regarding when the phenomenon will end, Mr. Ziakopoulos said that “this cycle of objectively unprecedented bad weather in the meteorological annals of our country will close tomorrow afternoon. I estimate around 20:00 to 21:00 at night to have the last episodethe epilogue in the regions from which it began, i.e. Magnesia, Sporades, etc.”

He also noted that in the following hours, afternoon and evening hours, some rains and local storms are expected in Attica. “We estimate that the intensity of the phenomena will not be great, 20 to 30 millimeters, but our experience tells us that even with so many millimeters there are problems, micro-problems are created in Attica and it is good for all of us to keep this in mind”, emphasized Mr. Ziakopoulos

At the same time he noted “that when last Friday he saw the forecast data for the first time, the model for Tuesday, he was scared”. “It was the first time after decades in this job”, he emphasized and added: “Then I also read the statement of a French colleague who said that he was shocked when he saw these elements in Central Greece and especially around Thessaly and in Thessaly” .

“I had a hope that the effects would be a little lighter because some models disagreed. When we realized that the models also now agree on these huge rain heights then we tried to justify how the models came up with this result. When we saw the summary situation, the atmospheric circulation situation, the thermodynamic factors, the oreography of the area then we decided that there was a great risk that things would indeed develop like this. We informed the GPP, which prepared the regions for what is to come”, emphasized Mr. Ziakopoulos.