Kitesurfing holiday with Meltem (aka Etesian)
The etesians (Ancient Greek ετησίαι ‘annual (winds)’, sometimes found in the Latin form etesiae), meltemi μελτέμι (Greek), or meltem (Turkish) are the strong, dry north winds of the Aegean Sea.
During hot summer days, this is by far the most preferred weather type. They are at their strongest in the afternoon and often die down at night, but sometimes meltemi winds last for days without a break.
The Greek word derives from the Greek word έτος (étos), meaning year, connotating their yearly fluctuation in frequency of appearance. Indeed, these winds have been described since ancient times and the word etesian (Greek: ετησίες) means annual. The Turkish form is probably a loan from Italian mal tempo ‘bad weather’.
Though it is sometimes called a monsoon wind, the meltemi is dry and does not correspond to an opposite wind in the winter. However, the etesians are distantly correlated with the summer monsoons of the Indian subcontinent, as it is a trough of low pressure into the Eastern Mediterranean region that enforces, if not causes, the etesians to blow in summer.
Etesians are due chiefly to the deep continental depression centered over southwest Asia and blow from a direction which may be anywhere between north-east and north-west depending on local topography; meltemi weather is ordinarily fine and clear, the northerly winds tempering the fierce summer heat of the region.
In the Northern Aegean sea, the etesians blow as winds of northeasterly to northerly direction. Moving south, in the central Aegean, they blow as winds of northerly direction, while, in the southern Aegean, the Cretan and the Carpathian sea, they blow as northwesterlies.
Historically, Philip II of Macedon timed his military operations so that powerful southern fleets could not reach him: their ships could sail north only very slowly while the Etesian winds were blowing.
As for now – Meltem can turn your kitesurfing holiday into a real blast.