Sunday, 20 March, 2022.
“The temperatures in March are below the seasonal norms (20 °C). When we look at the past, there is not one year in which temperatures were lower than normal for almost the whole month. This is the first time”, said Buran.
The snowfall in Cyprus on March 13 was only the second snowfall event on the island in March in the last 46 years, he said.
The Meteorology Department continues to monitor the effects of climate change on the island, Buran said. He noted that short-term heavy rains, city floods, strong winds and storms, dry periods and dust transport make their effects felt in the region and that these extreme climatic events are “increasing in number and severity every year“.
The Met Office director said that in the 2021 Climate Evaluation Report issued by his department, “the average temperatures in 2021 were 0.7 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 normal and it was the 3rd hottest year“.
In 2010, studies carried out by the Met Office for the weather for 2011-2040 predict that winter rainfall will decrease by up to 50 percent within that time frame.