July is normally Cyprus's most settled month, and 2026 had two interruptions. On 6–7 July a thunderstorm spell hit the Troodos massif: the Agros station recorded 100.3 mm on the 7th, and across the DoM station network about 89% of all July gauge rain (487 of 548 mm, summed over the stations) fell on those two days. The coast and the plains stayed essentially dry: Limassol, Paphos, Polis and Larnaca Airport recorded 0.0 mm for the month, Athalassa 1.1 mm, Lefkosia 3.2 mm.
Then came the heat. On 23 July the island-wide station average maximum reached 38.1°C, 15 of 53 stations hit 40°C or more and Athalassa (Nicosia) touched 43.2°C. Within two days it was over: by 25 July the station average was 30.2°C, about 4.7°C below normal, with 31 of 40 stations below their own 10th percentile. The NOAA series for Larnaca airport and the ERA5 model show the same drop.
Rain in July 2026 by gauge, DoM stations: the mountain flanks got it, the coast and plains did not.
The cloudburst of 6–7 July
The totals were all in the hills: Agros (1,004 m) 107.5 mm for the month, Kalopanayiotis 67.6, Polystypos 59.1, Mammari 42.4, Xyliatos 41.4 and the Troodos station 25.3. Agros's 100.3 mm is its wettest July day since its July records begin in 2005 (previous 78.4 mm, in 2006), and its July total edges the previous best (107.2 mm, 2006) by 0.3 mm — effectively a tie. It was not an island-wide July record: Kampos recorded 225.2 mm in 2015 and Troodos 153.2 mm in 2006. (Summing gauges gives a measure of the event's size, not an island rainfall total, since the stations are mostly in the hills.)
Heat: the model and the stations disagree
On the ERA5 model, the coast had a very hot July: Polis Chrysochous averaged a daytime 32.7°C, 3.9°C above the 1961–1990 normal and the third-warmest July since 1940, with Paphos (+3.3°C, 5th) and Paralimni & Protaras (+2.9°C, 3rd) close behind.
The stations are far less dramatic. The Polis station averaged 34.6°C, only 0.6°C above its own median and 7th of 21 Julys in its archive; Paphos 32.4°C, 0.2°C below its median. Across 42 stations with at least ten years of history, 29 had a July mean maximum below their own median, and the station-wide departure was about −0.5°C — much of it from a cool, wet spell on 6–10 July and the cool-down after 24 July. The ERA5 numbers are a grid-cell model measured against a cooler 1961–1990 baseline; they are not a measured record, so treat the coastal anomalies below as model values.
Mean daytime temperature vs the 1961–1990 normal, July 2026 (ERA5 model).
Polis Chrysochous
Polis Chrysochous: mean daytime temperature of every July since 1940 (ERA5 model); 2026 in amber.
Hot days still happened. Athalassa reached 35°C or more on 29 of July's 31 days, including 24 in a row from 1 to 24 July — mid-table, since Julys 2021, 2023 and 2024 had 31. On 29 July, ten of 42 long-record stations (nine outright, Akamas tied) logged their hottest 29 July in the station archive, among them Achna 41.2°C, Zygi 39.5°C and Lysos 39.0°C; at Polis the maximum jumped from 32.8°C to 38.4°C in a single day. These are same-date records over 9–20 years, not July records.
Nicosia
Nicosia, daily maximum in July (ERA5 model); black ticks mark the 1961–1990 mean for each day.
By place
| Place | Mean daytime (model) | vs 1961–1990 (model) | Rain (nearest gauge) | Tropical nights (gauge) | Hottest day (model) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicosia | 36.9°C | +1.9°C | 3.2 mm | 2 | 41.6°C (23 Jul) |
| Limassol | 33.7°C | +1.1°C | 0.0 mm | 0 | 38.6°C (29 Jul) |
| Larnaca | 33.5°C | +0.7°C | 0.0 mm | 1 | 37.5°C (23 Jul) |
| Paphos | 31.9°C | +3.3°C | 0.0 mm | 3 | 36.5°C (29 Jul) |
| Polis Chrysochous | 32.7°C | +3.9°C | 0.0 mm | 1 | 38.6°C (29 Jul) |
| Paralimni & Protaras | 33.1°C | +2.9°C | 0.0 mm | 7 | 36.2°C (29 Jul) |
| Troodos | 25.4°C | −0.7°C | 25.3 mm | – | 29.7°C (23 Jul) |
Gauge columns use the nearest DoM station (Lefkosia, Limassol, Larnaca Airport, Paphos, Polis, Frenaros, Troodos). The ERA5 model puts 23.8 mm of July rain on both Nicosia and Troodos; the Nicosia figure is about seven times what the Nicosia gauges recorded, so we show gauge values instead.
Nights
A tropical night is one that never drops below 25°C. The model suggested plenty on the coast, but the stations recorded few: Limassol 0, Polis 1, Larnaca Airport 1, Paphos 3, Lefkosia 2 — and more at Frenaros and Athalassa (7 each). The hottest night was the one of 22 July, when 24 of 53 stations stayed at 25°C or above. Across 25 stations with complete July data, hot nights in 2026 (50) were well below 2023 (114), 2024 (136) and 2025 (80).
Wind and sea
A quiet month for wind. The strongest gust was 21.0 m/s at Mammari on 6 July (gusts are only available to 23 July in our archive), below the July gusts of 22–23 m/s recorded at several stations in 2024 and 2025. After that only sustained 10-minute wind speed is available, peaking at 12.7 m/s at Amargeti on 29 July. Modelled sea-surface temperature (Open-Meteo, 21–31 July only) ranged from 25.0°C at Limassol to 30.3°C at Latchi, with Limassol's daily mean dipping from 27.3°C to 25.5°C between 22 and 26 July before recovering.
Method: temperatures and anomalies are model reanalysis (ERA5 via Open-Meteo, CC BY 4.0) averaged per place, baselines 1961–1990 unless stated; rain, wind and the station figures are DoM measurements (our station feed has gaps; see our criteria). Model values can differ from station measurements — see records and the rain tracker.