Weather Forecasts in Greece

Weather forecasts in Greece are easy to get and easy to misuse. The Hellenic National Meteorological Service issues marine bulletins for every Greek sea area, and they reach you online, by telephone, on VHF, through NAVTEX and by satellite. This page lists each of those channels, with the current frequencies, stations and broadcast times, and explains how to build them into a daily routine on board so you always know what the next 24 hours will bring.

Why the marine forecast matters more here than most places

Greek summer weather is unusually stable: long dry spells, high visibility and very little rain between June and September. What changes is the wind, and it changes by sea area more than it changes by day. A settled forecast for the Ionian and a Force 7 forecast for the central Aegean can share the same calendar date.

• Greek marine bulletins are issued by sea area, so the forecast that matters is the one for your area, not for the nearest town.
• Summer winds are largely thermal, so they build through the morning and ease after sundown. Timing your passage matters as much as the forecast figure.
• Acceleration zones such as the Kafireas Strait can run one to two Beaufort above the area forecast.
• Gale and storm warnings are broadcast the moment they are issued, outside the scheduled bulletin times.
• Every charter base gives a weather briefing at check-in, and the local knowledge in it is worth as much as the bulletin.

For the patterns behind the numbers, read this page alongside winds in Greece and climate and weather in Greece.

Who issues the official weather forecasts in Greece

The forecasts themselves come from the Hellenic National Meteorological Service (HNMS), which produces the marine bulletins, the gale warnings and the weather charts. The Hellenic Navy Hydrographic Service (HNHS) coordinates what goes out over NAVTEX, together with the Hellenic Coast Guard. Distribution to vessels runs through Olympia Radio, the NAVTEX coastal stations and the local port authorities. Everything below is the same HNMS forecast, reaching you by a different route.

Weather forecasts online and by phone

The HNMS website

Up to date forecasts and warnings are published on the official site of the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, including the marine bulletin by sea area. This is the source document behind the radio and NAVTEX broadcasts.

Meteo.gr sailing maps

The National Observatory of Athens publishes sailing maps for the Greek seas in English: wind arrows and wave height charts in three hour steps, with ports and marinas shown on the map. Times on those maps are Greek local time, not UTC. There is also a wind chart page, in Greek only.

By telephone

The Athens Marine Meteorological Centre of the HNMS takes calls from navigators on 210 9699171, from 07:30 to 14:30, and you speak to the forecaster on duty about the specific sea area you are interested in. A general recorded forecast, in Greek, is available from the Greek telecommunications operator on 14944.

Radio and television

Regular weather and sea bulletins for shipping, along with any special forecasts and warnings, are broadcast in Greek by the first programme of Hellenic Radio (ERA 1) daily at 06:05, on 729 kHz AM and on 105.8 MHz and 91.6 MHz FM. Other state, private and municipal FM stations carry forecasts after their news bulletins. On television, HNMS meteorologists and station presenters give the next day's forecast at the end of the main news on Greek public and private channels, and some channels run a forecast for the whole week.

Marine weather forecasts at sea: VHF and NAVTEX

VHF channel 16 and the port authorities

Channel 16 carries gale warnings, and you can also request a regular forecast from Olympia Radio on it. Any local port authority will pass on the HNMS forecast on request: call on local channel 12, or on VHF channels 07, 18, 19, 20 and 2 depending on where you are sailing. In practice the port police office in the harbour you are leaving is the fastest way to get a plain answer about local conditions.

Olympia Radio VHF weather bulletins

Olympia Radio broadcasts pre-recorded weather and sea bulletins in Greek and English from the stations below, at 06:00, 10:00, 16:00 and 20:00 UTC.

NAVTEX on 518 kHz

NAVTEX is the automatic printout service that delivers weather bulletins, navigational warnings and coast guard messages to a vessel without anyone having to ask for them. Greece runs three stations, each serving its own sea areas, transmitting in English on the international frequency 518 kHz and in Greek on the national frequency 490 kHz. Broadcasts run every four hours and last up to ten minutes. The times marked below are the ones that include the meteorological bulletin.

Transmissions marked * also carry the weather report. The Greek language service on 490 kHz uses the identifiers [Q] for Iraklio, [P] for Kerkyra and [R] for Limnos, on a similar four hourly schedule. Set the receiver to your station and leave it running: it should be switched on at least twelve hours before departure, or simply left on for the week.

NAVTEX coverage by station

Each station broadcasts the forecast for the sea areas it covers, so pick the one whose list matches your cruising ground. Kerkyra serves the Ionian, Iraklio the southern Aegean and Crete, and Limnos the central and northern Aegean.

Plan with the forecast

Sail a route that suits the conditions you will actually get

Tell us your dates, your crew and your experience. We will match you to a cruising ground, a boat and a route that work with the Greek summer winds rather than against them.

Get a free quote See our charter bases

Long-range services: MF, radiotelex, satellite and weather charts

These channels matter mainly to yachts on passage and to anyone sailing outside VHF range of the coast. On a standard charter in the islands the VHF and NAVTEX services above will cover you.

Olympia Radio MF coastal stations

Voice weather bulletins are broadcast from four medium frequency coastal stations at 06:33, 09:03, 15:33 and 21:33 UTC.

HF radiotelex

Olympia Radio (call sign SVO) transmits the weather bulletin for Greek waters by radiotelex (SITOR) on 8424 kHz at 09:30 and 21:30 UTC. The Olympia Radio stations on MF, HF and VHF carry the full HNMS forecast, covering the Adriatic, the Ionian, the central and eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea.

Satellite: Inmarsat-C SafetyNET and METAREA III

The HNMS forecast for the whole Mediterranean and the Black Sea goes out daily through the SafetyNET service of the Inmarsat-C system, via the Thermopiles land earth station, at 10:00 and 22:00 UTC. It is transmitted on AOR-E (41, CCCC: LGAT, access code 120, HNMS Greece) and on the Alphasat Europe and Middle East ocean region, which replaces the former Indian Ocean Region (EMEA, 41, CCCC: LGAT, access code 305, HNMS Greece). Greece sits within METAREA III, which covers the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and the full schedule is published by the World Meteorological Organization.

Radiofacsimile weather charts

Yachts carrying a radiofax receiver can pick up the HNMS chart transmissions on 4481 kHz and 8105 kHz, at a drum speed of 120/576, covering the eastern and western Mediterranean and southern Europe. Each chart takes about eleven minutes. The daily set is three surface charts plus eight wave height charts.

Reading a Greek marine bulletin

The bulletin is read out, and printed by NAVTEX, sea area by sea area. Three things decide what it means for your day.

The sea area, not the island

Greek forecasts are issued for named sea areas such as Central Aegean, Kafireas Strait, Samos Sea or Patraikos. Know which area you are in and which one you are crossing into, because a single day's sail can move you between two of them. The coverage table above doubles as a list of the area names you will hear.

Beaufort force, and what it means on a charter yacht

Wind is given in Beaufort. On a typical 40 to 50 foot charter yacht, Force 3 to 5 is comfortable sailing, Force 6 is a reefed, working day that most crews would rather take downwind than upwind, and Force 7 and above is a day to stay in harbour unless the whole crew is experienced. Remember that the meltemi builds through the morning, so a Force 4 at breakfast is often a Force 6 by mid afternoon.

Timing, UTC and local time

Broadcast schedules and NAVTEX prints are in UTC. Greek local time is UTC plus two hours in winter and UTC plus three in summer, so the 09:10 UTC NAVTEX weather print lands at 12:10 in the middle of a July morning. The meteo.gr sailing maps, by contrast, are labelled in local time.

A daily weather routine on board

Use the sources in the order that matches the decision in front of you. This is the pattern that most skippers settle into by day two of a charter.

• Night beforeLook at the three to five day trend online. Decide the shape of tomorrow, not the detail: which direction you want to be travelling.
• First thingRead the morning bulletin for your sea area. The 05:10 to 05:50 UTC NAVTEX prints and the 06:00 UTC VHF bulletin both carry it.
• Before you slipAsk the port authority or the harbour office on channel 12, and look at the sky and the sea outside the breakwater. Local effects do not appear in an area forecast.
• Under wayKeep channel 16 open and the NAVTEX running. Gale warnings go out immediately, not at the scheduled times.
• Before a crossingRe-check the wind before committing to open water, especially through acceleration zones such as the Kafireas Strait. Leave yourself a bolt-hole to leeward.
• On arrivalCatch the 16:00 or 20:00 UTC bulletin, then plan tomorrow around it. Repeat.

Plan the rest of your charter

These pages cover the winds behind the forecasts, the season, the paperwork and the bases you can start from.

Weather forecasts in Greece: frequently asked questions