The city enjoys a typical Mediterranean climate, with sunny dry summers and mild rainy winters. During the period between April and October, clear-sky weather is almost an everyday feature. The atmosphere is always warm, but fierce heat waves (temperatures above 38 °C) are not very common, since the prevailing Etesian winds ("Meltemia") blow from northern directions and pleasantly moderate the conditions. Intervals of sunny days are frequent during the windy and rainy winter as well. Snow and frost are rare near the coast, with very few exceptions, like the snowstorm on 13 February 2004, when 10–30 in (250–760 mm) of snow accumulated in the urban area, causing general chaos. However, such cold days can be followed by much warmer and sunny weather. Even minor early heat waves can occur in March or April, during a Saharan dust event, whose main feature is the strong and hot katabatic wind from the south, which is a type of Sirokos (σιρόκος) and is called "Livas" (i.e. the wind from Libya) by the Greeks. Such events happen only a couple of times a year, and their duration is never more than one or two days.
The chart to the right is based on data recorded during 1958-1997. Absolute maximum temperature ever recorded was 42.5 °C, while absolute minimum ever recorded was 0 °C. However, the record minimum was broken on 13 February 2004 when the temperature reached -1 °C at midday
