Announcement regarding the intense weather phenomena that affected Cyprus in December 2019.
As he notes, the weather in December was extremely wet and relatively warm, while during the month there were many episodes with intense weather phenomena such as heavy rainfall.
Brief weather conditions for December 2019:
The weather in December was extremely humid and relatively warm. Unstable weather conditions prevailed on the 1st, 4th, 6th and during the periods 8-15 and 23-31 of the month, causing rains, local storms, stormy winds, hail and mountain snowfall.
The average temperature was about 1.0oC above normal and the average rainfall was 204.4mm or 194% of normal for the month.
The intense weather phenomena that affected Cyprus in December 2019:
During the month there were many episodes with strong weather phenomena such as heavy rainfall (with flooding as a result), windstorms, tornadoes, sea storms, heavy snowfall, hail and extremely high temperatures that had socio-economic effects.
Heavy rains-floods
On the 11th and 12th of the month, heavy rains caused problems in the areas of Limassol, Larnaca and Famagusta. The rainfall at Larnaca Airport on the 11th of the month was 73.2 mm, while at Avdimou on the 12th of the month it was 90.1 mm. at 12:2019 until 16:01 we had heavy rain. Its intensity was 17 mm in 24 minutes and 20.4 mm in 5 minutes. These intensities compared to the Limassol station (representative station of the area) have not occurred again since 30 (year of the beginning of the measurement of the intensities at the specific station). Figure 10 shows in red the intense reflections of the meteorological radar over Avdimou during the period when the heavy rain was recorded.
On the 14th of the month heavy rain affected the areas of Nicosia, Limassol and Famagusta causing property damage. The rainfall in Koilani was 90.1 mm.
On the 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th of the month, heavy rains caused problems in almost all areas of Cyprus. On the 23rd of the month the rainfall in Platania was 76 mm. The total rainfall on the four days of December 23-26 was 68.3 mm, ie about 65% of the normal for the month.
On the 29th and 30th of the month, heavy rains affected almost all areas of Cyprus, causing property damage. On the 29th of the month the rainfall in Drousia was 65.3 thousand.
Windstorms
Windstorms were recorded on 24 (affected Larnaca area) and 30 (affected Limassol area) of December. On December 24 the wind at Larnaca Airport reached 45.2 Nodes, while on the 30th of the month the wind at the New Port of Limassol reached 49.6 Nodes.
Tornadoes - sea siphons
On the 24th of the month, a tornado in the area of Xylofagou caused severe damage to houses. On the 25th of the month, a tornado in the area of Ypsonas caused damage to plantations. On the 29th of the month, a sea siphon was observed in the sea area of Argaka.
Heavy snowfall
We had episodes of heavy snowfall on the 26th (height of new snow 10 cm) and December 31 (height of new snow 10 cm) in the Troodos area.
Hail
Heavy hail occurred during the periods 13-14 (Kellaki, Stavrovouni, Agios Theodoros Agrou) and 29-30 (Kellaki, Kyperounta, Palaichori, Larnaca) of the month.
Extremely high temperatures for the season
On the 1st and during the period 16-23 December, extremely high temperatures prevailed for the season in the interior and in the mountains. The maximum temperature in Athalassa on December 20 was 24.8oC, which is the highest temperature recorded at the above station for this winter period since 1983.