"The rainbow never forms a full circle, nor any segment greater than a semicircle. At sunset and sunrise the circle is smallest and the segment largest: as the sun rises higher the circle is larger and the segment smaller."

 Aristotle, "Meteorologica", 340 B.C.

In most parts of the world, Greece is associated with fantastic weather. And rightly so! Winters, albeit somewhat wet, are quite mild and short, whilst summers are warm, with clear blue skies and little, if any, rain. However, as you'd expect, there is considerable variation in the weather, depending, inter alia, on latitude, elevation and distance from the sea.

To help you better plan your trip, I have put together information on the climate and weather of Volos, the capital city of the Prefecture of Magnesia, which is located at the foot of Mt. Pelion.

The associated data are conveniently presented in tables and graphs, showing average, highest, and lowest recorded temperatures, number of rainy days, number of days hotter that 32^oC, etc.

All the data presented on this page have been obtained from the Weatherbase and have been processed using Microsoft Excel.

Average Temperatures


As you can see from the graph below, temperatures follow smooth sinusoidal curves, with minima in January and maxima in July.

The average temperature curve is conveniently situated 4^oC to 5^oC below the average high temperature curve and 4^oC to 5^oC above the average low temperature curve. The mean annual temperature for Volos is approximately 16.5^oC.

Highest & Lowest Recorded Temperatures

And, of course, there are always extremes! The lowest temperatures, -7^oC, have been recorded in January and February, whereas the highest, 42^oC, have been recorded in July and August. It is noteworthy that the difference between each month's highest and lowest temperature is in the vicinity of 30^oC.

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Days With Rain - Days Above 32^oC

It rains for about a week per month between November and February, then the number of rainy days decreases gradually till July, which is the driest month, with only 1.7 rainy days, followed closely by August, with 2.1. September is slightly wetter, but the wet season really begins again in October.

If you visit Pelion during the summer, you can expect some very hot days. Temperatures above 32^oC are not uncommon, as they appear during a quarter of June and half of July and August.

For a brief discussion of the climate in the Pelion region and the Mediterranean realm, in general, please visit the Mediterranean Climate page, which also describes how plants have adapted to cope with the extreme summer drought and the frequent forest fires.

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