A tornado is seen hitting the Greek island of Andros on Monday.
© Meteology.grA tornado is seen hitting the Greek island of Andros on Monday.
A series of tornadoes hit the Greek islands on Monday during the blizzard that has been sweeping across Greece since Sunday.

Meteology.gr uploaded a photograph of a tornado apparently approaching the island of Andros. Another video shows a tornado hitting the island of Skopelos, further north.

Tornadic waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water or move from land to water. They have the same characteristics as a land tornado.

They are associated with severe thunderstorms and are often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning.



If a waterspout moves onshore, the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning, as some of them can cause significant damage and injuries to people.

The Greek islands have been completely covered in snow since Sunday in a once-in-a-lifetime weather event. Locals say that the last time this amount of snow fell on the Cyclades was decades ago.

Syros, Naxos, Tinos, Andros, Mykonos, Santorini, and the other islands of the Cyclades are covered in a white veil of snow

Snowstorm Elpis sweeps through Greece

The tornadic waterspouts of the last few days in Greece follow the second and most severe part of the storm known as "Elpis" which is in progress all across the country.

According to the National Meteorological Service (EMY), the main characteristics are very low temperatures; heavy snowfall โ€” even in lowland areas of northern and eastern Greece as well as in the Aegean islands โ€” while northerly winds of 8 to 9 Beaufort are expected to blow in the area.

Ships in the ports of Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio remained docked on Tuesday due to strong winds reaching up 9 on the Beaufort scale.

Ferry routes to the Saronic Gulf were being carried out only with closed-type ships. The Aghia Marina-Nea Styra and Keramoti-Limenas Thasou ferry lines were not operating.

Passengers planning to travel should contact local port authorities or their travel agents before setting off.