Orange alert for stormy weather

Cyprus’ Met Office issued an orange weather alert warning the public of continued heavy rain following a weekend of thunderstorms.

On Monday, Cypriots woke up to heavy rainfall, with police warning drivers to be particularly careful on the roads.

Monday’s orange alert upgrades a previous yellow warning. The renewed alert is valid until Tuesday.

Talking to state radio CyBC, the island’s meteorological services’ director Kleanthis Nicolaides said the alert level is based on heavy and prolonged rain forecasts.

“A combination of locally prolonged and temporarily heavy rain is expected to continue,” the official said.

He warned that total precipitation is likely to range between 85 and 110 mm per 24 hours.

The island is affected by a low-pressure weather system moving eastwards from Greece.

According to the Met Office, Monday will be cloudy with isolated heavy thunderstorms on the menu.

Snow or sleet is forecast at intervals in the higher Troodos peaks, with intense snowfall.

Temperatures will rise to a maximum 16°C inland, around 17°C on the coast and 6°C in the mountains.

Night temperatures will fall to 10°C inland, around 13°C on the coast and 1°C in the mountains where frost is expected.

Local thunderstorms are expected to continue until Tuesday, with the weather improving significantly from midday.

Some local showers and isolated thunderstorms are also be expected on Wednesday.

According to police, all roads leading to the mountains have become slippery.

Some roads in the highest mountains are now open only for vehicles with four-wheel drive or equipped with anti-skid chains: Karvouna-Troodos, Platres-Troodos and Prodromos-Platres, Prodromos-Troodos, Kakopetria-Pinewood, Pinewood- Prodromos.

On Monday, there was 10 cm of snow on Troodos square.

Due to the recent wet weather, Cyprus has received around 90% of its average rainfall since October.