Snow on Karpathos – January and February 2021

It’s the end of April now, Greek Easter is happening as I am writing this and everyone on Karpathos is getting ready for the warm weather. Getting ready for the arrival of tourists. Even though I am placing my winter clothes in a box to store for the next months I will not forget how much I’ve used them this year.  I mean, I even had to use my warm winter hat with all the snowfall we had in February! Who would have thought that would be useful to have on Karpathos island.

I remember in January that I was walking our Agia Kyriaki Walk with Jax and noticing snow. The views are spectacular in 360 degrees around Agia Kyriaki. As I was looking around I realised that the top of the Stroumboulas (Στρούμπουλας, 1118 meters) mountain was white!

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Snowfall on Karpathos happening twice a winter is unique and it usually only snows once every couple of years. The snow then disappears within a few hours because it simply melts away before you manage to get up close. Imagine the Karpathian kids holding the snow in their hands and letting it then fall through between their fingers.

This year I noticed the white mountain tips in Lastos in January and thought “this is it. We won’t get any more snow than this”. We did however! In February we got even more white mountains. The hills in Othos and Menetes were visibly getting white and whiter as the sun was rising. The entire show lasted for one hole day, but it is absolutely gorgeous to see snow so close to Pigadia. I am still however waiting to see a snowed upon white beach here one day. 

In the morning of the snowfall in February I decided to take my chances and drive up to Menetes with Jax. I only go as far as the road is clear since the cars here won’t manage the snow-topped roads with the summer tires. 

A walk with Jax is one of the most funny things to do when there is snow. Seeing a black labrador retriever jump around trying to catch snowballs is a great start of the day. And a rather unusual day for Karpathos.

Now we are back to the warmth. The temperatures are rising and we’ve already had our first swim. The water must be around 19 degrees and this weekend we are expecting 30 degrees for Greek Easter. Happy holidays!

We look forward to seeing you all soon. Hoping for the month of May to let you travel again and enjoy beautiful Karpathos once again. It’s been too long to see you!

Cheers,

Renate

PS. Did you know you can buy a gift card from Art and Walk? Follow the link to I Will Travel Again and surprise your loved ones with a gift card for a guided walk or workshop or simply get one for yourself 🙂