🇨🇾Cyprus

Cyprus spans 34°33′–35°42′N as the third-largest island in the Mediterranean with an area of approximately 9,251 km², positioned at the eastern Mediterranean meeting point of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Two main mountain ranges shape the landscape: the Troodos massif rising to Mount Olympus at 1,952 m in the centre-southwest, and the narrow Kyrenia or Pentadactylos range along the north coast, with the fertile Mesaoria plain stretching between them.

Mediterranean Csa and hot semi-arid BSh climates share the lowlands, with BSh in the rain-shadowed Mesaoria around Nicosia, while the Troodos mountains are cooler and wetter, with the higher ground usually snow-covered in winter.

Nicosia in the Mesaoria plain sees January highs of 16°C and lows of 6°C and July highs of 38°C with extreme summer maxima climbing above 44°C, and receives about 340 mm of winter-concentrated rainfall. Limassol on the south coast is milder with roughly 400 mm, while Mt Olympus on Troodos receives nearly 1,100 mm with substantial winter snow supporting a small ski area.

Summers are bone dry from June through September, while dust haze from the African and Arabian deserts occurs occasionally. The eastern Mediterranean is warming faster than most other inhabited regions: the 2024 heatwave brought temperatures above 45°C, droughts such as that of 2008 have strained water supplies, and the 2021 Arakapas fire, which broke out during a heatwave, was described as the worst in the country's history.

Our archive covers 2 Cypriot cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.7°C.