The first snowflakes of the season came quietly to Crete, carried by the passing front of bad weather “Adel,” and settling like pale breath across the mountaintops. The layer is still thin, almost hesitant, but it is enough to shift the island’s rhythm — enough to remind us that winter is not a sudden visitor here, but a soft approach.
As the system moved further south, the higher elevations welcomed the first true cold masses of the year. The Lefka Ori and Psiloritis dressed themselves in a faint veil of white, a delicate crust that changes the entire mood of the landscape, even if it barely covers the rock. The images coming in from the mountains feel more like December than anything we have seen in recent weeks — a gentle correction to the strange warmth that lingered far too long.
While most of Crete escaped serious damage, the storm left its mark.
Heavy rains and pockets of hail troubled some lowland fields, leaving producers uneasy as they inspected crops bruised by the sudden cold. Nature rarely makes a transition without a touch of imbalance.
But in the high places, the story was different.
Up there, the shift felt almost ceremonial — the land taking a long breath, the cold brushing over ridges and plateaus, the first white strokes appearing on stone as if a painter tested the palette before committing to winter’s full hand. It is not enough for skiing or for deep drifts, not yet, but it is the promise that the season is turning.
Crete is slipping gradually into its winter rhythm.
The mountains are the first to announce it, sending down their quiet message: crisp air, early dusk, and a long-awaited coolness that feels almost cleansing after weeks of restless weather. For those who wait each year for the snowline to descend, this is the beginning — the gentle prologue to a season that always arrives in whispers before it settles fully across the island.
