Athens or Valencia: which climate?
Athens (Greece) has a hot-summer mediterranean climate, whereas Valencia (Spain) has a cold semi-arid climate, according to the Köppen-Geiger classification.
The values compared here are normals computed over 86 complete calendar years, from 1940 to 2025, using ERA5 reanalysis data from the Copernicus programme. The same method and the same period apply to Athens and to Valencia.
Athens is warmer than Valencia by 0.6 °C in annual average: 17.5 °C against 16.9 °C.
Valencia gets more rain than Athens: 447 mm per year against 364 mm.
Valencia has warmed by +2.4 °C between 1940 and 2025, against +1.6 °C in Athens. Valencia is therefore warming faster than Athens. Both trends are statistically significant.
Athens averages 85 hot days (≥ 30 °C) and 3 frost days per year; Valencia averages 34 and 1.
Data from ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus Climate Change Service), redistributed under a CC-BY 4.0 licence. Normals are recomputed whenever the archive is updated.
| Indicator | Athens | Valencia | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily temperature | 17.5 °C | 16.9 °C | -0.6 °C |
| Average daily high | 22.1 °C | 21.2 °C | -0.9 °C |
| Average daily low | 13.2 °C | 13.1 °C | negligible |
| Annual rainfall | 364 mm | 447 mm | +83 mm |
| Sunshine / day | 10.4 h | 10.6 h | negligible |
| Hot days (≥ 30 °C) | 85 d/yr | 34 d/yr | -51 d/yr |
| Frost days (< 0 °C) | 3 d/yr | 1 d/yr | negligible |
| Rainy days (≥ 1 mm) | 59 d/yr | 66 d/yr | +7 d/yr |
| Mean relative humidity | 64 % | 69 % | +5 % |
| Average peak wind | 15.4 km/h | 16.4 km/h | negligible |
A difference is only reported when it exceeds the resolution of the data. ERA5 is a reanalysis on a grid of about 31 km: two nearby cities often fall in the same cell, and below half a degree you are reading the grid, not the climate.