Heat warning issued for Greece and Turkey half-term holidays after temperatures hit 40C

Portugal is also seeing temperatures ‘eight to nine degrees above normal,’ says expert

Turkey’s Oludeniz beach, near Dalaman (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Britons with holidays booked to Greece and Turkey this half-term are being warned that the countries will see record October temperatures this month.

Last weekend, the beach break area of Antalya saw 41C, Turkish weather stations reported, two degrees hotter than any previous October day.

Turkish meteorologist Yaser Turker commented on the phenomenon, saying the country had seen its hottest October day since 1930.

“Antalya experienced a historical day in terms of temperature,” he wrote.

“Antalya Airport experienced the hottest October day since 1930 with 41.2C (Central 40.4C) due to the blow-drying of the hot air coming from Africa and descending to the bay from N and NW. 41.2C is also Turkey’s October record.”

However, Turkey’s weather has cooled during the past two days, lowering to more like 30C.

Greece also saw unprecedented high temperatures in early October, with Cyprus’s Athalassa National Park recording 40C and Potamoi in Greece hitting 39.2C, both on the first of the month.

The hottest temperatures occured between 3 and 6 October, with the National Observatory of Athens’ Meteo service announcing: “temperatures in the lower atmosphere above all of Greece on Sunday and Monday will be 7-13 degrees Celsius higher than the average value in the years 1979-2010.”

Athens, Crete, Corfu and Rhodes are all seeing cooler temperatures in the mid-20s Celsius this week.

Experts say the toasty temperatures are due to a phenomenon known as Foehn wind, a warm and gusty breeze that heats up naturally as it flows down the leeward side of mountain ranges.

Portugal also saw temperatures of around 35C in the first week of October, amid the return of a Saharan dust cloud, which previously lingered over Europe in spring 2022.

“The temperatures are quite high for what is normal for the month of October,” meteorologist Patrícia Marques told Portugal’s Lusa news agency.

“The high is eight to nine degrees above normal for the month of October. This situation of high temperature values ​​is expected, at least, until the Saturday 8 and on Sunday 9 October.”