On Jun 27, 10:31 am, Yannis wrote:
Tudor Hughes :

I cannot make sense of these METARs for Athens Airport.

UT/Date Temp DP Press Wind MPH
F C F C
(15) Jun 26 96 (36) 64 (18) 29.71 (1006) E 9
(14) Jun 26 96 (36) 69 (21) 29.71 (1006) ENE 9
(13) Jun 26 111 (44) 42 (6) 29.71 (1006) W 16
(12) Jun 26 107 (42) 48 (9) 29.71 (1006) E 8

At 13Z the wind goes round to westerly (onshore?) but the temperature
remains the same. Then the wind goes back to easterly with the
dramatic onset of a sea breeze at 14Z. I wonder if there are some
mistakes here, but which figures?

Hey, Tudor.

Since the airport moved to the Mesogeia plain in 2001, an easterly is
an onshore wind (the sea is at roughly 5km in a straight line) and a
westerly comes straight from Athens, having passed Mt. Imittos (1026m
amsl). The airport's coordinates are 37º55'52''N, 23º56'32''E. Not
much sea further to the west of Athens either and that's what made the
difference yesterday: synoptic weather conditions were not very
different compared to Monday, but there was no southerly in the lowest
1000m of the troposhere.

Markopoulo, a site 5km south of the Athens airport, was reporting 43C
with a very strong westerly, gusting to 80 kph!

Yannis

Thanks, Yannis. The mistake was mine. I assumed Athens
airport was very close to the city and the sea was immediately to the
south-west but in fact it is well to the east. This explains
everything and will enable me to make more sense of the airport
observations in the future.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.