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Cyprus Climate
The Mediterranean climate, warm and rather dry, with
rainfall
mainly between November and March, favors agriculture. In
general,
the island experiences mild wet winters and dry hot
summers.
Variations in temperature and rainfall are governed by
altitude
and, to a lesser extent, distance from the coast.
The higher mountain areas are cooler and moister than
the rest
of the island. They receive the heaviest annual rainfall,
which may
be as much as 1,000 millimeters. Sharp frost also occurs
in the
higher districts, which are usually blanketed with snow
during the
first months of the year. Plains along the northern coast
and in
the Karpas Peninsula area average 400 to 450 millimeters
of annual
rainfall. The least rainfall occurs in the Mesaoria, with
300 to
400 millimeters a year. Variability in annual rainfall is
characteristic for the island, however, and droughts are
frequent
and sometimes severe. Earthquakes, usually not
destructive, occur
from time to time.
Summer temperatures are high in the lowlands, even near
the
sea, and reach particularly uncomfortable readings in the
Mesaoria.
Because of the scorching heat of the lowlands, some of the
villages
in the Troodos have developed as resort areas, with summer
as well
as winter seasons. The mean annual temperature for the
island as a
whole is about 20° C. The amount of sunshine the island
enjoys
enhances the tourist industry. On the Mesaoria in the
eastern
lowland, for example, there is bright sunshine 75 percent
of the
time. During the four summer months, there is an average
of eleven
and one-half hours of sunshine each day, and in the
cloudiest
winter months there is an average of five and one-half
hours per
day.
Data as of January 1991
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