The Weather In Athens

Every Time an Olympic host is chosen, every sailor with an interest in the Olympic Sailing Competition, be it athlete, team leader, coach, or spectator immediately asks the question, “What’s The Weather going to be like?”

It’s not unusual. Success in our sport, more so than many, is dictated by the weather, or more importantly wind and water conditions. The equipment chosen, the Athletes that each NOC choose to send, the tuning or selection of an individuals’ equipment, even the way that equipment is sailed, can all be influenced by what is expected to happen on the field of play over the weeks that sailing medals will be contested.

Some nations spend massive time and resources on weather forecasting, and some nations even send boats out onto the race courses months before the event in order to beef up their data on the area.

The Athens Organizing Committee (ATHOC) will be providing a forecasting service throughout the months of July and August courtesy of the Hellenic National Meteorological Service. As well as this service, details of the weather and historical data on Athens and the sailing area is readily available from a number of sources.

Athens is mainly located on the Attica plain. High surface temperatures are often observed in the Athens urban basin during the summer time. Generally, in Attica, the distribution of temperature presents a large spatial variability, due to the existence of urban areas and the proximity of water bodies. Gentle sea breezes contribute to more comfortable temperatures near the coasts, while within the urban centre surface temperature is much higher. However, the discomfort index has a low value because of the low humidity.

The Ultra Violet (UV) index is at its most intense from 11:00 to 17:00 hours (local time). The levels of UV index in the Athens area are similar to those occurring generally in Southern Europe or Central USA during the summer and in Sydney during September to October.

During the summer the Aegean Sea is influenced by strong Northern winds, called the Etesians. Although these local winds affect mainly the Aegean Sea and the islands, they also affect the Athens area. At the east part of Attica sea breeze blows from SE to NE directions, while at the West part the wind conditions are more complicated, as sea breeze generally blows from S-SW directions.

Summer showers or thunderstorms can occur due to excessive ground heating, often in combination with upper level disturbances and poll of cold air.

There are on average 2 days of showers or thunderstorms during August and 4 days during September.

Comprehensive historic weather data from the Hellenic National Meteorological Service is available on the ISAF Athens 2004 Microsite, and via their website at: http://www.hnms.gr/hnms/english/index_html