Greece, Turkey, Other Mediterranien Areas Hit By Rare Heavy Snow

Cars stuck in one of the worst snowstorms in Greece in
decades this week. Photo by Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

As occasional very light snow dusted us here in Vermont this week and we await news on whether it'll be our turn to get nailed with a snowstorm this weekend, Greece and Turkey are buried in white.  

Some of the worst snowstorms in years, even decades focused their fury on those two nations this week. 

It snows a little in Athens pretty much every winter, but this was quite a bit bigger than usual. "The height of the snow is unprecedented in some areas, Christos Stylianides,the Greek Climate Change and Civil Protection Minister told the AP.  

Echoing that Interstate 95 disaster in Virginia earlier this month, thousands of motorists were trapped on highways in Greece during the height of the storm. The Greek Army was removing the cars from the highways as the storm waned.

In one strange moment in the Greek storm, a waterspout on the Mediterranean managed to make landfall, throwing snow into the air. 

Istanbul,  Turkey received 13.4 inches of snow, with thunder mixed in.  Like Athens, it snows at least a little most winters in Istanbul, but this was much heavier than they usually get. The city's airport closed, and the snow was heavy enough to cave in the roof of a cargo terminal.

Some higher elevations around Istanbul received more than 30 inches of snow. 

The snow extended to places where it almost never gets dumped on. Antalya, Turkey on the Mediterranean coast, had its first snowfall in 29 years. 

The same was true on some Greek Islands.    Local media said the snow was a "once in a lifetime weather event" on the Aegean Islands, including Syros, Naxos, Tinos, Mykonos and Santorini.  

A bit of an editorial here: I'm pretty stunned by the explosion lately of highly unreliable, doctored or fake YouTube videos of weather events lately. You really have to wade through lots crap posted by bots to find actual credible videos. That's sad of course.

I think I've found a few videos that reflect reality, though. As usual, if you don't see the video in this post, click on the hyperlink instead. 

Here is a nice walking tour of Athens during the pretty but also messy snowstorm: 

Here's a Reuters report of the snow in and around Istanbul, Turkey:

This one is the most dramatic. It shows the collapse of a cargo terminal under the weight of the snow at an airport in Istanbul, along with other scenes of chaos at that airport.