Greece Weather in July

Greece weather in July shapes small-group trips from Crete and the Cyclades to Rhodes and the north. Expert-led outings run on the islands and in the port cities through the height of summer. Station figures cover Heraklion, Thessaloniki, Naxos, Rhodes, Piraeus and Kavala. The etesian winds and past heatwaves also feature, beside mainland and Ionian stations. Related pages cover the best time to visit Greece, Greece weather in October and Greek island cruises. Further outings appear among the Greece tours on offer.

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What is Greece weather in July like?

Greece weather in July across the Aegean follows the Csa pattern. Csa is the Köppen code for a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers. This type covers the North Aegean islands, part of the Cyclades and the greater part of the Dodecanese.

Greece weather in July: the Venetian harbour of Rethymno on Crete, with boats and waterfront houses under a clear sky
Venetian harbour of Rethymno, Crete

Greece weather in July on Crete also follows the Csa type, which covers the island’s low-lying areas. The Köppen system sorts world climates into groups marked by letter codes. In Greece, the semi-arid group ranks second by how widespread it is. A semi-arid climate is a dry type, where little rain falls across a whole year.

Greeks also call the etesian winds meltemia, and both names refer to local winds. Over the Aegean Sea, the etesians hold temperatures below the levels of the Ionian Sea and mainland Greece. They also narrow the diurnal swing across the Aegean. Diurnal means daily, so the swing is the gap between the warmest and coolest hours.

Greece weather in July has also brought long heatwaves. A heatwave is a spell of unusually hot weather lasting days. One of the longest and fiercest on record lasted between 26 July and 10 August 2021. The heat affected the whole country across those weeks, from the end of July into early August.

  • Old records: Decades-old records fell during that long heatwave in the summer of 2021.
  • Named heat: In 2021, government officials said they were considering giving names to Greek heatwaves.
  • Eastern mainland: In July 2023, another long major heatwave set record temperatures, chiefly in the eastern mainland.

Greece weather in July of 1987 brought a heatwave. That event is listed among the other notable heatwaves recorded in the country. Weather stations are fixed points where instruments log the temperature, rain, wind and humidity through each year.

How does Heraklion on Crete shape Greece weather in July?

Greece weather in July at Heraklion, a city on Crete, is warm to hot and dry. Clear skies mark the summer there. Weather stations at the airport, the port and the city centre each log their own separate July readings.

Greece weather in July in Heraklion brings dry, hot days, and seasonal breezes frequently relieve them. A seasonal breeze is a wind that returns at the same time each year. The Aegean Sea keeps the city cooler in summer than Athens. The normal maximum in Athens sits about 5 °C higher than in Heraklion.

The Nikos Kazantzakis Airport station supplies Heraklion’s averages for the years 1991 to 2020. Such long-term averages are called climate normals. The July daily mean at that airport station is 26.5 °C. A daily mean blends every reading of a full day and the night after it into one figure.

The city station has kept extreme readings since 1951. Greece weather in July there has reached a record high of 43.6 °C. A record high is the hottest temperature a station has ever measured in that month. Extremes are the highest and lowest values in the full records of a station.

  • Night low: The airport averages a July daily minimum of 22.7 °C, the lowest reading of a typical day.
  • Record low: The city station has logged a July record low of 14.5 °C.
  • Humidity: July relative humidity at the airport averages 58%, an index of water vapour in the air.

Greece weather in July at the Heraklion Port station averages a daily minimum of 24.9 °C. That station sits at a height of 10 metres above sea level. The term sea level means the mean sea surface, from which heights of land are counted.

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Which Thessaloniki stations record Greece weather in July?

Greece weather in July in Thessaloniki is measured at the station of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, among others. Its extremes date back to 1930. The July record high there stands at 43.3 °C, the hottest July reading on its list.

The university station stands 32 metres above sea level. Greece weather in July at this site gives a daily mean of 27.0 °C. A mean is an average, found by adding all readings and dividing by their number. The university that runs the station carries the name of the ancient thinker Aristotle.

Thessaloniki Airport sits just 2 metres above sea level, and its extremes run from 1961. Greece weather in July at the airport has reached a record high of 44.0 °C. The same station logs 325.7 hours of sunshine in July. Sunshine hours count the time when direct sun reaches the recorder.

The airport station counts 6.7 precipitation days in July. Precipitation means any water that falls from the sky, such as rain or hail. A precipitation day is one on which the rain gauge catches enough water to measure. A gauge is a simple open container that collects falling water so that observers can measure it.

  • Average low: The university station averages a July daily minimum of 21.8 °C, the coolest part of the day.
  • Coldest July: The lowest July reading on the university station’s list is 12.0 °C, its record low.
  • Airport air: July relative humidity at Thessaloniki Airport averages 52.7% across the month.

Greece weather in July at Thessaloniki Airport brings an average daily minimum of 20.9 °C. The airport figures are climate normals for 1991 to 2020. A climate normal is a long-term average that experts use to describe the usual weather of a place.

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What do the Naxos stations show about Greece weather in July?

Greece weather in July in Naxos town has hit a record high of 37.9 °C. That figure comes from the town weather station. Naxos is one of the Cycladic islands. Cycladic is the adjective for the Cyclades, the island group to which Naxos belongs.

Under the Köppen system, the greater part of the Cyclades falls in the hot semi-arid group, BSh. Stations of the National Observatory of Athens place a number of Naxos locations in that hot semi-arid group. An observatory is a centre where scientists study the sky, the air or the weather.

At 600 metres above sea level, the Apeiranthos village station sits high on the island. Greece weather in July in that village keeps a mean daily minimum of 21.1 °C. Apeiranthos is a village, a country settlement below the size of a town. Height above sea level is called altitude or elevation.

Greece weather in July in Naxos town averages a daily minimum of 22.0 °C. The symbol °C stands for degrees Celsius, the metric scale for temperature. An average smooths single hot or cool days into one typical value. A monthly average draws on every day of that month across a run of years.

  • Record low: Naxos town has a July record low of 14.8 °C, its coldest reading for the month.
  • Humidity: July relative humidity at the Naxos town station averages 68.6% across the month.
  • Town station: The Naxos town station stands at sea level, listed at 0 metres.

Greece weather in July in Naxos town is recorded by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service. Meteorological means linked to meteorology, the science of the air and its weather. Hellenic means Greek, from Hellas, the name of Greece in the Greek language.

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How do three Rhodes stations measure Greece weather in July?

Greece weather in July on Rhodes is tracked at three sites. They are Rhodes Airport, the port and the village of Lindos. The airport station has a July record high of 39.0 °C. Its July daily mean is 26.4 °C.

At Rhodes Port, only 4 metres above sea level, the July daily mean is 28.2 °C. A port is a coastal hub for vessels that carry goods and passengers. A harbour is calm, protected water in which boats can shelter. Vessels is a broad word that covers ships, ferries and smaller boats.

The third station stands in Lindos, a village on Rhodes, 65 metres up. Greece weather in July at Lindos brings a mean daily low of 27.6 °C. That low is the coolest point of an average July day there. Such a low marks the floor of the daily temperature range.

Back at Rhodes Airport, July brings an average of 14.0 hours of sunshine each day. The Rhodes Port station logs 393.5 hours of sunshine across the whole month. A sunshine recorder is an instrument that marks the hours of bright sun. Greece weather in July on Rhodes is measured for sunshine at both of these sites.

  • Humidity: July relative humidity at Rhodes Airport averages 57.6%, measured across the whole month.
  • Record low: A record low is the coldest temperature in the full history of a station.
  • Temperature range: This span runs from the highest to the lowest reading of a period.

Rhodes Airport has a July record low of 16.8 °C. The coldest July reading at Rhodes Port is 22.4 °C. Greece weather in July on the island has never fallen below those marks at either site on record.

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What does the port city of Piraeus add to Greece weather in July?

Greece weather in July in Piraeus falls under the hot semi-arid type, BSh in the Köppen scheme. The national climate atlas names Piraeus the only area in Attica that clearly falls into this group. Attica is the wider region of Athens and its coast.

Land breezes on summer nights in Athens give Piraeus high minimum temperatures in summer. A land breeze is air that drifts from the land out to sea after dark. A minimum temperature is the lowest reading of a day. A port city is a city that grew around a harbour used by ships.

The national weather service keeps a Piraeus station with averages for 1981 to 2010. Greece weather in July at that station reaches an average daily maximum of 32.8 °C. Its average July minimum is 24.8 °C. A maximum is the highest reading of a day, taken in the warmest hours.

At 29 metres above sea level, the Kallipoli station holds a July record high of 41.5 °C. Greece weather in July at Kallipoli brings a mean daily minimum of 26.4 °C. Kallipoli is the name of the district of Piraeus where this station stands. A district is a named section of a city.

  • Daily mean: The national weather service station in Piraeus gives a July daily mean of 29.0 °C.
  • Climate atlas: A climate atlas is a book of maps and tables that shows the climate of an area.
  • Dry heat: A hot semi-arid climate pairs high summer heat with low yearly rainfall.

The Piraeus Port station stands 20 metres above sea level. At the port, Greece weather in July reaches a mean daily high of 35.0 °C. Its mean July low is 27.3 °C. A daily high is the top temperature logged in one day.

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Where does Kavala fit into Greece weather in July?

Greece weather in July in Kavala belongs to the Csa type, a Mediterranean climate with hot summers. The highest temperature ever recorded in the city is 38.0 °C. That figure is the peak of every reading kept for Kavala.

Greece weather in July in Kavala sits near the edge of two other climate types. Near the airport, the climate borders on a semi-arid type. In the city centre, it borders on a humid subtropical type. Humid subtropical means warm and moist, with rain falling across the whole year.

The Kavala Weather Station holds averages for 2006 to 2018. Greece weather in July at this station gives a daily mean of 26.6 °C. The mean of its July daily lows is 23.1 °C. An average for a set of years blends every July in that span into one figure.

July precipitation at the Kavala Weather Station averages 25.4 mm. Greece weather in July in Kavala includes 4.2 precipitation days at the station. A millimetre of precipitation is a layer of water one millimetre deep on flat ground. The abbreviation mm stands for millimetres, each one a thousandth of a metre.

  • Humidity: Kavala’s humidity is always moderate to high, in every season of the year.
  • July humidity: July relative humidity at the Kavala Weather Station averages 68.4%.
  • Csa code: In the Köppen code Csa, the letter s marks a dry summer season.

An airport station near the town of Chrysoupoli also keeps climate records for Kavala. Greece weather in July at that station has a mean daily low of 19.5 °C. A mean daily low averages the lowest readings across the days of the month.

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How does Zakynthos Airport shape Greece weather in July on the Ionian side?

Greece weather in July at Zakynthos Airport reaches an average high of 30.7 °C. That figure comes from normals for 1961 to 1990, which are long-run averages. The term average high describes the warmest daily reading, averaged over every July day.

Zakynthos ranks third in size within the Ionian Islands, the island group of the Ionian Sea. Over a whole year, the island’s mean temperature comes to about 18.5 °C. An annual mean folds the readings of all twelve months into one number. Greece weather in July is a single month inside that yearly sum.

Greece weather in July at the airport holds a record high of 42.2 °C. The phrase record high names the hottest reading the station has ever logged for July. The July record low on the same table is 12.0 °C. A record low marks the coldest reading on file, and these extremes run from 1961 onwards.

Greece weather in July on Zakynthos counts 0.5 precipitation days at the airport. On a precipitation day, rain, hail or snow passes a small, fixed threshold in the gauge. A figure of 0.5 means one such day in every second July, on average. Precipitation is the shared word for any water falling from clouds.

  • Average low: The July average low at the airport stands at 20.4 °C, the mean daily minimum.
  • Daily mean: Day and night readings together give a July daily mean of 26.7 °C.
  • Humidity: Air at the airport holds 59.3% average humidity in July, measured against its full capacity.

Greece weather in July on the island adds up to 5.0 mm of precipitation at the airport. One millimetre equals a film of water one millimetre deep on level ground. The total collects in a gauge, an open container with a scale.

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Why does Arta, a city of Epirus, matter for Greece weather in July?

Greece weather in July at Arta brings an average high of 31.8 °C. Arta, in northwestern Greece, is the seat of a regional unit in Epirus. A regional unit is one tier of Greek local government, below the wider region.

Greece weather in July at Arta falls under Csa, the hot-summer Mediterranean climate. Arta pairs a hot, dry summer with a cool, rainy winter. The code comes from the Köppen scheme, which sorts climates by heat and rain. In Csa, C stands for mild winters, s for a dry summer and a for a hot one.

Like much of Western Greece, Arta takes in plenty of precipitation over the year. That total ranks it among the wettest cities in Greece. Greece weather in July at the Arta station brings 13.4 mm of precipitation. Wettest here refers to the yearly total of rain and other falling water.

Greece weather in July at Arta counts 2.5 precipitation days as a long-run average. A precipitation day here means a date on which the gauge records a measurable fall. An average of 2.5 lies halfway between two and three such days. Across the decades behind the table, wet and dry Julys balance out.

  • Trade in 1776: Arta specialised in wheat, wine, tobacco and timber for building ships.
  • July minimum: The coolest part of a July day at Arta averages 19.5 °C.
  • Damp air: Average humidity at the Arta station stands at 59.2% in July.

These Arta figures come from the national weather service of Greece and cover 1976 to 2010. A national weather service is the state body that runs official stations and forecasts. Greece weather in July in these tables covers that whole span.

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What record readings does Larissa bring to Greece weather in July?

Greece weather in July at Larissa records an average high of 34.4 °C. The national weather service supplies that figure from its station at the city. An average high pools the peak reading of every July day into one mean value for the month.

Greece weather in July at Larissa holds a record high of 45.5 °C. Its extremes reach back to 1955, while the averages cover 1991 to 2020. An extreme, in a climate table, is the highest or lowest single value ever logged. Averages over such a long span smooth out single hot or cool years.

In Larissa, Greece weather in July includes readings near or above 40 °C every year. They come for only a short run of days. A reading is one measurement taken by the station’s thermometer. The Celsius scale sets zero at the freezing point of water and one hundred at its boiling point.

For Greece weather in July, the Larissa station logs 22.0 mm of precipitation. A monthly total like this adds each day’s gauge reading into one sum. The same table counts 3.5 precipitation days for July. Each of those days carries a measurable fall, however small or brief it turns out to be.

  • Cooler end: Daily minimum readings at Larissa average 20.4 °C across the month.
  • Record low: The coldest July reading on file at the station is 9.8 °C.
  • Sunshine: Older figures for 1961 to 1990 credit Larissa with 334.8 hours of July sunshine.

Summer thunderstorms in Larissa are sometimes heavy and can harm crops in the fields. A thunderstorm is a storm cloud that brings lightning, thunder and sudden, heavy bursts of rain. Agricultural damage means harm to crops, orchards or farm buildings.

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Where does Agrinio fit into Greece weather in July for Western Greece?

Greece weather in July at Agrinio comes with an average high of 33.5 °C. The national weather service runs the city’s station. Agrinio is the second city of Western Greece in size, behind Patras. Western Greece is an official region of the country.

Greece weather in July at Agrinio is logged at a station 24 m above sea level. Height above sea level measures how far a site rises over the mean level of the ocean. A station this low sits near coastal height. Its averages draw on records from 1956 to 2010.

Agrinio’s relatively dry summer brings high daytime temperatures, at times above 40 °C. Daytime temperature is the warmth of the air during the hours of light. A relatively dry summer is one with less rain than the wet season of the same year. Greece weather in July in Agrinio sits within that dry summer stretch.

Like the rest of Western Greece, Agrinio receives a large amount of rain in winter. Its climate falls in the Mediterranean Csa group of the Köppen system. For Greece weather in July, the Agrinio gauge collects 15.2 mm of precipitation. The Mediterranean label comes from the sea at the heart of that climate zone.

  • Daily minimum: The lowest reading of each July day at Agrinio averages 17.7 °C.
  • Air moisture: Moisture in the July air at Agrinio averages 55.1% humidity.
  • Wet days: The station counts 2.9 precipitation days in an average July.

Greece weather in July at Agrinio includes 360.1 hours of sunshine at its station. Sunshine hours count the time when the sun shines strongly enough to register on a recorder. The recorder is a device that traces bright spells of direct sun on a card.

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Which Athenian festival of Hekatombaion shares the season of Greece weather in July?

Greece weather in July falls partly within Hekatombaion, an Athenian month roughly matching late July and early August. The Panathenaia, a festival of Athens lasting more than one day, ended each year on 28 Hekatombaion. A festival, in ancient Athens, was a public religious celebration.

Greece weather in July fills the seventh month of the modern year. Hekatombaion was the first month of the Attic calendar, named after Attica around Athens. The Attic year was meant to open at the first new moon seen after the summer solstice. The solstice marks the longest day.

Long before any record of Greece weather in July, the first Great Panathenaea took place in 566 BC. The word Great marks the larger edition of the festival. The letters BC mean before Christ, with years counted back from year one of the modern calendar. An edition, in this sense, is one holding of an event that recurs.

Young Athenians kept a vigil known as the pannychis on the eve of the procession. They danced on the Acropolis during it. A vigil is a stretch of staying awake through the night for a religious reason. Pannychis is Greek for an all-night feast. The Acropolis is the rocky hill above Athens that holds its chief temples.

  • Earliest mention: The Iliad, an epic poem, gives the oldest reference and credits Erechtheus with founding it.
  • Opening feast: A first-night banquet in the Agora, the public square, used a kopis, a curved blade, for meat.
  • Procession size: Over 1,000 people of widely differing backgrounds walked in the main procession.

At the vigil, long before any chart of Greece weather in July, Athenians sang a paean for Athena. A paean was a praise song, more at home in feasts of Apollo. Such sung praise is a hymn, a song to a god.

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When does the Athens Epidaurus Festival play during Greece weather in July?

Greece weather in July falls inside the season of the Athens Epidaurus Festival. This yearly arts festival is held in both Athens and Epidaurus. Its season runs from the fifth month of the year to October. An arts festival gathers plays and music into one programme.

During Greece weather in July, shows at the ancient theatre of Epidaurus fall on Fridays and Saturdays. The same pattern holds in August. The theatre stands on the site of the Asclepion, a sanctuary of the healing god Asclepius. Sanctuary here means sacred ground kept for a god and the rites held there.

The festival opened officially on 19 June 1955, just before Greece weather in July, with Hecuba by Euripides. Hecuba is a tragedy, a serious play ending in suffering. From 1957, Alexis Solomos revived the comedies of Aristophanes for the National Theatre, beginning with Lysistrata. Comedy in ancient Athens meant a funny play that mocked public life.

Beside the main festival, the Theatre of Palaia Epidavros hosts its own performances. Those shows were musical at first, and plays came later. In 1995 the series began on a trial basis as Musical July. The name places it in the month of Greece weather in July. Palaia is Greek for old, giving Old Epidavros.

  • Callas: The singer Maria Callas appeared at Epidaurus in 1960 and again in 1961.
  • Opening the stage: In 1975, troupes beyond the National Theatre first performed on the ancient stage.
  • Foreign director: In 1982, Peter Hall became the first director from abroad to take part.

Part of the programme revives ancient myths, and part offers new plays built on old dramas. A myth is a traditional tale of gods, heroes and the origins of things. A drama is a story written for actors to perform on a stage.

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What do travellers ask about Greece weather in July, and what are the answers?

The Greece weather in July record includes Karpenisi, high up at 998 m above sea level. Grevena’s station sits lower, at 510 m. The month also brings the feast of Prophet Elias on 20 July. Athens once held the Kronia for Kronos in midsummer.

At 998 m, what does Karpenisi show about Greece weather in July?

The Karpenisi town weather station stands at 998 m. Its July averages for 2019 and 2020 give a high of 27.4 °C. The matching July low is 15.5 °C. Precipitation over the month comes to 62.2 mm. Altitude means how high ground stands above sea level.

What does the Grevena station add to Greece weather in July?

The Grevena weather station stands at 510 m. Readings there for 2019 and 2020 put the July high at 31.5 °C. The matching low drops to 14.5 °C. July precipitation at the station totals 20 mm. Each daily minimum feeds that low, so the figure is an average of minimums.

Which saint’s feast on 20 July falls within Greece weather in July?

Saint Elias has his feast on 20 July in the Orthodox liturgical calendar. A liturgical calendar lists the church feasts of the year. Chapels and monasteries of Prophet Elias are a frequent sight on Greek mountaintops. Elias took on links once tied to Zeus, such as power over rain, thunder, lightning and wind.

How did ancient Athens mark the Kronia close to Greece weather in July?

The Kronia was an Athenian festival for Kronos, held on the 12th day of Hekatombaion. Hekatombaion once bore the name Kronios, after this festival. Scholars see the Kronia as a feast of the first harvest, gathered in mid-summer. Harvest means bringing in ripe grain and fruit from the land.