The Meteorology Department issued a yellow warning for rain and storms expected from 6pm on Tuesday until 8pm on Wednesday.
“A combination of rain and isolated storms will affect the island at intervals, initially the west and progressively the rest of the island,” said the Department, adding that “hail may fall in a storm while the winds will vary and strengthen.”
The intensity of the rain is likely to locally fluctuate between 35 and 55 millimetres per hour, it said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Meteorological Officer Andreas Chrysanthou told CNA that local rains, isolated storms and a slight drop in temperature are expected from Tuesday afternoon.
"The possibility of hail in the storm, as well as the possibility of snow or sleet in the higher mountains, cannot be ruled out," he said, adding that this pattern will continue tonight, and on Wednesday too, when local rains and isolated storms will be expected at intervals.
“In terms of temperature, tomorrow we will have a small drop of 1-2°C, but by Thursday and Friday we will return to the temperatures of the season, around 17-18°C in coastal areas, around 15-16°C inland and around 8-10°C in the higher mountains,” he said.
On Saturday, some isolated showers are likely to occur, and from Sunday, there will be a two-day period with local rains and isolated storms, said Chrysanthou.
High levels of dust in the air
At the same time, Chrysanthou warned that today, and possibly in the coming days too, there will be intermittent dust concentrations in the atmosphere. For today, these concentrations are particularly high, he noted, adding that "in places we are already three times above the permissible level."
In the coming days, "we will have intermittent dust concentrations, which will trouble us" coming eastwards from the northern regions of Africa.
The Labour Inspection Department urged the public, and particularly any vulnerable groups (children, older people, and the infirm) to avoid circulating in open spaces until the high levels of dust dissipate, noting that the small size of respirable particles may have negative effects on human health.
The Department also called on employers to take appropriate measures after assessing the risk to employees working in open spaces, recommending they take personal protection measures.
According to the Department’s Air Quality Monitoring Network ground stations, measurements of dust concentrations at 9am showed that Nicosia had 95.5 μg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter), Limassol 122.9 μg/m3, Larnaca 163.4 μg/m3, Paralimni 128.5 μg/m3, Paphos 172.9 μg/m3, Zygi 80.5 μg/m3, and Ayia Marina Xyliatou 70.9 μg/m3.
The Department explained that ‘dust’ refers to respirable particulate matter of a diameter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) in the air. According to the relevant legislation, the limit value not to be exceeded for the daily average concentrations is set at 50 μg/m3.
Source: CNA