3rd blog

Santorini’s climate is quite pleasant as it enjoys a mild-mid latitude climate, a suitable fit for the Mediterranean. When speaking of climate keep in mind that we’re talking about an average atmospheric condition during a long period of time as oppose to weather which refers to a condition during any given moment. The mild- mid latitude climate on this beautiful Greek island indicates it has dry summers and wet winters which is totally true. The warm and dry season for Santorini begins in April and lasts until October. On the other hand, the cold and rainy season starts from about November through March. Although these months are the wettest there’s not much rainfall since on average there’s about 74mm of rainfall during December and January, and it drops in February.  With two clear distinctions between wet and dry it seems that Santorini contains two seasons: summer and winter.

On any given day, most likely during the winter, thunderstorms occur in Santorini (weather). Thunderstorms need moisture to create clouds and rainfall, and they also need unstable warm air. The moderately warm air can be quickly lifted from the Aegean Sea breezes making the thunderstorm easier to form. There are three stages in the formation of a thunderstorm. First, cumulus clouds form when the warm air is lifted; called the updraft cumulus stage. Second, the mature stage causes updrafts and downdrafts. Downdrafts create a gust front producing heavy rainfall and sometimes lightning. The dissipating stage follows and cooled air flows out from the thunderstorm calming the storm.