Storm brewing west of Cyprus

Severe weather from Greek storm "Hioney" could creep up on Cyprus by mid-week, with strong winds and rain expected to affect parts of the island.

A cold front is expected to hit Greece on Wednesday, with gale force winds up to 10 points on the Beaufort scale, bringing a drop in temperature, snow, and lots of rain including over islands in the Aegean.

The system will intensify outwards in the eastern parts closer to Cyprus, with Wednesday morning skies only partly cloudy over the island with light rain and snow at the highest peaks.

But Wednesday evening, scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms are expected along with strong winds. Maximum temperatures will reach 19° Celsius inland and in the coastal areas while it will be 10 degrees up on the mountains.

Hioney is expected to produce gale force winds with speeds up to 100 kilometres in Greece, over land and sea. These wind patterns will also affect areas in Turkey in the north as well as Egypt and Libya in the south, while a different weather system over Cyprus will produce strong winds but up to 5 Beaufort over land.

Feel factor drops on Thursday

Temperatures over the island are expected to drop on Thursday with a noticeable feel factor well below the normal averages for this time of the year.

Clouds and rain will continue through Friday and Saturday, with showers and thunderstorms as well as snowfall on the mountains.

The last measurement of the Troodos Square snow gauge was 18 inches, as recorded at 5am Tuesday morning.