According to the preliminary data of the climate change service (C3S) of the European Copernicus program analyzed by the meteo.gr/EAA scientific team, the winter of 2023-2024 was the warmest on record for Greece.

The winter of 2023-2024 (December 2023, January and February 2024) in Greece was characterized by long periods with high temperature values, far exceeding the normal temperatures for the season.

Figure 1 shows the average maximum temperature for the winter period from 1960 to 2024 in the whole of Greece. The winter of 2023-2024 is recorded as the warmest on record for Greece, surpassing the winter of 2015-2016. A very important fact is that in the last 10 years the 6 warmest winters of all time have been recorded. The average maximum temperature in Greece from 1960 to 2024 for the winter period shows an increase of 1.8 °C.

Figure 1. Average maximum temperature for the winter period (December, January, February) in Greece from 1960 until 2024.

Figure 2 shows the deviation of the average maximum temperature from the average value of the period 1991-2020 in Greece. In areas of Northern Greece the average maximum temperature for the winter of 2023-2024 fluctuated by 2-3 °C above the average value of the period 1991-2020, in the rest of the country by 1-2 °C, while in no part of Greece the deviation of the average maximum temperature did not fall below +0.5 °C.

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Figure 2. Deviation of the average maximum temperature for the winter of 2023-2024 from the average value of the period 1991-2020 in Greece.