Sissi, also written as Sisi, is located on the eastern side of the island of Crete just off the southern coast of Greece. Sissi is just seven kilometres away from the small shopping town of Malia, and also lies just 40 km from the capital of Crete, Heraklion, and 25 km from the town of Agios Nikolaos. Sissi sits at the end of a long, narrow, winding road that is lined on either side by olive trees, and is off the main highway with a fishing port tucked away in a naturally created inlet.
Sissiâs fishing harbour was created by the sea pounding against the land and burrowing deep to form a long, narrow bay, which is now protected from the waters by a small, wave-breaking wall. This wall also keeps the bayâs water warm, between 15C and 25C year-round, and calm, making it an ideal spot for swimming at one of its two sandy beaches surrounded by cliffs and just to the east of the fishing harbour.
Sissi, much like most of the island of Crete, experiences the typical Crete weather pattern of a hot, dry summer and a mild, wet winter. Most of Crete becomes slightly cooled by a northerly wind, but the coastal areas, like Sissi, to the east of the mountainous region, are blocked by those mountains from the wind. This means Sissi and other points east of the mountains experience a much more mild winter than the west side of Crete. Due to this fact, snowfall in the winter months is more prevalent in the northwest than in the southeast, but even in the northwest, it is still rare to see much snow. The only part of Crete that sees a significant amount of snowfall is in the mountains, which can be seen from the inlet that is Sissi.
CLIMATE
Summer
July and August are marked with very high temperatures, running close to 30C, but the heat is often relieved with the cooling âMeltemiâ winds that blow in from the north or northwest. From June to September, there are only 2 days per month of possible rainfall. The summer season enjoys between 10 and 12 hours of constant sunshine. The summer begins in mid-April and usually lasts until October, with seasonal temperatures ranging from 20C to 30C. This is the best time of year, weather-wise, for holidaymakers.
Winter
This season is marked by mild temperatures between 12C and 20C. The most notable part of the winter season is its increased rainfall. Each month of the season contains a total of approximately 12 days of rain. December is the wettest month of the year, and can see some strong storms swirling in from the Mediterranean Sea with high winds and torrential downpours. In December, it isnât uncommon to experience as much as 15 days of rain, usually from these storms that blow in from the sea. Sometimes the rain seems much like an eternal force being driven by a ferocious wind, but winter in Sissi will also have some sunny or partially sunny days, mostly throughout the months of December to February.
Sissiâs winter is much like a true English spring, which is mild and wet, and the seasonâs lower temperatures create the possibility of some light frost a few times throughout the season. Snow is a possibility, but is very rare and wonât stick around very long at sea level. Although the winter temperatures will average in the low to mid-teens, a few sunny days could bring it up as high as 20C. The night-time temperatures are considerably cooler and usually range from 8C to 14C.
Though the winter temperatures in Sissi rarely drop below 15C, 2008 marked one of the coldest beginnings to the year in quite awhile. During the beginning of this year, the daytime temperatures rarely climbed above 14C, and most of the time, they remained around 10C to 12C.
Spring and Autumn
These two seasons are almost non-existent. Spring and autumn are known on the inlet of Sissi as transitional seasons. They are marked by daily weather that is constantly changing, as they prepare Sissi for the next steady weather pattern of either hot and dry or mild and wet. Each of these two seasons usually will last no more than one month.
Spring
During this transitional period, the rainfall will gradually start to decrease as the daytime and night-time temperatures increase. The wind will decrease in force, but it will not completely dissipate as visitors experience relief from heat by an occasional summer breeze. The number of rain-drenched days will slowly decrease in anticipation of Sissi's hot and dry summer weather.
Autumn
This season is the gradual transition between the hot, dry summer and the mild, wet winter. The temperatures will slowly drop, and the days of rainfall will gradually increase, eventually climbing from almost no days in August to half of the month of December. This increase in precipitation will begin with the autumn season, and wonât begin to decrease again until sometime late January.
A notable but rare weather occurrence in Sissi is the introduction every once in a while of red rain. This is when the wind that pushes the rain across the area also pushes sand particles along with it. The sand particles create a slight reddish glare in the rain, making it appear to be red in colour. It has been six years since the last time this has occurred.
Another notable weather occurrence in the recent past was the accumulation of snow. Snow is rare in Sissi, but on 13 February 2004, Sissiâs visitors and locals experienced the most snow seen in several decades. The temperature dropped to a cold 8C, and the snow climbed to an astounding 16 cm. Many trees in the area were damaged from the weight of the snow. Then, to add to the unusual month Sissi was experiencing, just 10 days later on Feb. 23, the temperature climbed to a very warm 24C. This was an unusual weather pattern that hasnât been experienced since.