Orange alerts in Cyprus and northern Turkey; Israel faces what forecasters call an unprecedented August
An unseasonal upper-level low crossed the Eastern Mediterranean on Saturday, bringing thunderstorms, hail and flash-flood warnings from the Black Sea coast to the Levant and breaking a week of extreme heat across the region.
Cyprus was placed under an orange warning by the Department of Meteorology, in force from 10am to 7pm. Forecasters put rainfall at 55 to 70 millimetres, with hail possible and winds liable to strengthen sharply in gusts during storms. Senior meteorological officer Michalis Mouskos told the Cyprus News Agency that temperatures of about 39°C inland on Friday would fall to roughly 30°C, a drop of some nine degrees, before climbing back to seasonal norms by Tuesday. Private forecaster Kitasweather warned of multicell storms carrying hail up to three centimetres, localised flash flooding and near-gale gusts, beginning in the north and spreading over the Troodos range and the central plain.
In Turkey, the state meteorological service issued orange alerts for Ordu and Samsun and yellow alerts for 24 further provinces. It forecast 25 to 60 kilograms per square metre across the central Black Sea and 51 to 100 east of Samsun and west of Ordu, with heavy rain expected to persist into Sunday evening. A separate bulletin put Hatay at 30 to 60 kilograms per square metre and flagged flooding, lightning, hail and tornado risk. Gale warnings covered Van, Hakkari, Siirt and Şırnak, along with Isparta, Burdur, Denizli and inland Antalya and Muğla.
ArabiaWeather described the system as exceptionally early for the season over Syria and Lebanon, forecasting heavy rain in short bursts, dense hail, sudden downbursts and possible waterspouts off the coast. Latakia and Tartus were expected to be hit first, along with parts of Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Homs. Lebanon's civil aviation meteorological service forecast thunder, hail and torrents on roads across the northern half of the country overnight.
Israel is bracing for the sharpest impact. The heaviest rain is due overnight into Sunday along the coastal plain from the north through the Sharon to greater Tel Aviv, with 20 to 30 millimetres possible within one to three hours around dawn, enough to overwhelm urban drainage. The country has never recorded two separate August rain events above 10 millimetres, and the single-event August record of 33 millimetres, set at Kfar Galim in 1971, may be challenged. Police were deployed to major roads.
Egypt reported no rain but warned of severe disruption to shipping from Matrouh and Alexandria to North Sinai, with winds of 50 to 70 kph and waves of 2.5 to 4.5 metres. Greece remained outside the system, with meltemi winds at 8 Beaufort in the southeastern Aegean and Attica still at category-4 fire risk.