‘Oceanis’ Storm Buries Northern Greece in Snow

A wave of cold weather hit Northern and Central Greece on Saturday morning, covering most parts of the region in snow and pushing temperatures below zero.

The storm that weathermen have named “Oceanis” left major cities in Northern Greece with inches of snow. Residents of Florina, Kozani, Komotini, Alexandroupolis, Xanthi, and other major cities in Macedonia and Thrace saw heavy snowfall and with the need to salt the roads.

The bad weather also affected road transport in northern Greece, where authorities have barred vehicles of more than 3.5 tonnes from using the Egnatia Highway between the Komotini junction and the Vafeika, Xanthi junction due to the very strong winds in Rodopi and Xanthi. Large vehicles were diverted to the Komotini-Porto Lagos-Xanthi national road while snow chains are needed in several parts of the road network.

The residents of Thessaloniki saw their city dressed in white, with authorities warning that the snow may turn to ice by nightfall.

Further down south, the residents of Trikala, Karditsa and the Fthiotida Prefecture went out in the streets to take pictures of the snowy landscape and throw snowballs at each other.

According to the National Meteorological Service, at 10 am the temperature in Florina was -6 degrees Celsius. At the same time, in Kozani, the temperature dropped to -4, in Kastoria to -3 and Alexandroupolis to -2 degrees Celsius.

In Kavala and Serres, the thermometer also reached -2.

“Oceanis” also caused problems in transport. In the Thessaloniki airport, some departures and landings were canceled due to the strong winds and low visibility.

On the Egnatia Odos National Highway, traffic police banned the moving of trucks over 3.5 tons.

At the Rafina Port, all boats scheduled for the Cyclades islands remained docked due to the strong winds that ranged from 8 to 10 in the Beaufort scale.