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Has the climate in Athens changed?

Athens has warmed about 1.5°F since 1997.

About 0.5°F per decade, measured from Athens's official daily weather records, 1997–2025. Individual years still bounce around — some recent ones came in cool — but the long-term line has clearly risen.

Is that a lot? Athens's warming is broadly in line with other cities in United States — neither unusually fast nor unusually slow.

What has actually changed

Each card compares the 1970s (the first ten years of the record) with recent years (the last ten) — the same span the headline and the chart use.

Freezing nights
about the same
1970s
58 / yr
Recent
58 / yr
Winters about as cold as before
Average temperature
+1.1°F
1970s
61.5°F
Recent
62.6°F
A steady upward drift
Hot days above 90°F
10 more days
1970s
54 / yr
Recent
64 / yr
More days of serious heat
Rainy days
about the same
1970s
118 / yr
Recent
118 / yr
Rainfall pattern about the same

Athens's temperature, year by year

Average temperature for each year from 1997 to 2025.

58°60°62°64°66°1997: 60.0°F1998: 63.4°F1999: 62.7°F2000: 61.4°F2001: 60.9°F2002: 61.4°F2003: 60.5°F2004: 61.1°F2005: 61.9°F2006: 62.8°F2007: 62.4°F2008: 60.1°F2009: 60.6°F2010: 60.6°F2011: 60.6°F2012: 63.6°F2013: 60.0°F2014: 59.5°F2015: 61.6°F2016: 63.1°F2017: 62.6°F2018: 61.7°F2019: 62.7°F2020: 61.8°F2021: 61.3°F2022: 61.1°F2023: 64.9°F2024: 64.2°F2025: 62.6°Flong-term trend19972000201020202025
a warmer-than-average year a cooler-than-average year

Each bar is one year. Most recent years sit above the older ones. Some recent years still came in cool — warming is a slope, not a straight climb.

In day-to-day terms, that long-term shift shows up as about 14 more freezing nights a year and about 7 more days above 90°F compared with the 1970s.

When in the year the change shows up

How much warmer each month is now than in the 1970s. Useful if you garden or care about a particular season — otherwise the headline above already has the answer.

-3.0°-2.5°-2.0°-1.5°-1.0°-0.5°0.0°+0.5°+1.0°+1.5°+2.0°+2.5°+3.0°January: -2.1°F-2.1JFebruary: -2.6°F-2.6FMarch: +0.3°F+0.3MApril: +1.6°F+1.6AMay: -0.4°F-0.4MJune: +0.2°F+0.2JJuly: -0.9°F-0.9JAugust: -0.3°F-0.3ASeptember: -0.6°F-0.6SOctober: -0.7°F-0.7ONovember: +0.2°F+0.2NDecember: +2.5°F+2.5D

February has cooled the most — about 2.6°F. The warming runs across the whole year, not just one season.

Methodology & sources

Temperature — the official 1991–2020 climate normals from NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals, measured at Decatur Pryor Fld (NOAA GHCN station USW00053852), about 16 km from the city centre.

How we build these numbers →