Crete Weather: Predictions and Forecasts
Various weather services compete to get our attention, because each time we visit their sites, it makes them more popular with those who place their costly adverts there.
Perhaps the best known among such services is the BBC, but its 5-day forecasts are rather simple:
either it rains on a given day or it does not, the day will be sunny, cold or hot ... and that's more or less it.
As a result, there is little real accuracy to be found here:
Chania | Heraklion
Much more detailed are the forcasts from so-called Weather Underground. The predictions there cover 6 days
and, very useful, are split into day and night conditions. The best feature, however, concerns rain. They don't just
forecast rain on a given day or at night, they tell us if the chance for rain is 20% or 100%, or something in
between.
I've found this to be rather accurate - with 20% often translating into just an hour or two of heavenly tears
invigorating the ever thirsty Cretan soil. Don't be surprised if the CHANIA result linked to from here says SOUDA.
The data this service uses are from Chania Airport, they just call it Souda Airport.
Recently, an hour-by-hour mode has been added to the site - trying to tell us exactly when it's hot and when not.
Check it out here:
Chania | Heraklion
The service known as Accu Weather goes even further into detail. Not only is there a 15-day forecast
and a daily hour-by-hour one, but what is perhaps best is their often accurate RealFeel feature -
combining temperature and wind and humidity into a value that is being sensed by the skin. See it here:
Kissamos
|
Chania
|
Heraklion
The problem I found with this service is this. Although, for example, you can choose Kissamos as your location -
which seems nice and truly localised - but what you get there is exactly the same data-set you get for Chania.
I detected this by preparing this page for our readers.
Compare the following lines of code which are used to call up the data:
zipcode=EUR|GR|GR027|KISSAMOS|&metric=1
zipcode=EUR|GR|GR027|CHANIA|&metric=1
zipcode=EUR|GR|GR020|HERAKLION|&metric=1
and you see that Kissamos and Chania use the same data (GR027), whereas Heraklion really has its
own (GR020). The localisation seems a scam!?
A service that seems to do better in this regard is the UK based Weather Online. Judging from the
information they provide (and from the location codes they use), they appear to have localized info for eight locations
on Crete.
North coast: Chania, Rehtymnon, Heraklion, Sitia
South coast: Paleochora, Sfakia, Matala, Ierapetra
You can see and compare all of these on our Crete: Current Conditions page.
A totally different kind of approach can be found at the bi-lingual website of Meteo Greece. there is no forecast at all, simply a very accurate description of the present situation. However, what makes this site a special one is their archive of weather history. You can find out how conditions were in a given month during the last two years ... and then draw your own conclusions for the present or future. Give it a try: Chania | Heraklion
The probably most accurate and detailed forecast for Greece and it's part of the Mediterranean sea originates with the Poseidon System. Its main focus is wind and sea, and it is highly recommended for everyone going out with a boat, for surfers, and in case of heavy weather - those times when you really want to know what is going to happen where.
If you know about different, better, more extensive - even similar - weather services you prefer to use, please let me know. Especially, I'd love to know if and which other cities or areas of Crete have their own forecasts. Please contact me through this page.