Kefalonia sää — lokakuu

Regulars are honest this month comes down to luck - some visitors get genuinely good weather throughout, others hit a rainy, changeable stretch, the rain itself typically warm rather than a cold soak. Our row backs that mild, genuinely wet read, 24.8C reading as a hot 25C, over 17.3C nights feeling 16C, with a substantial 107.1mm of rain across 8.3 days and a real 26.9 kph wind. Regulars are consistent by mid-to-late month most smaller resorts have shut down for the season, Argostoli and Lixouri the recommended base since they stay open and genuinely lively regardless. The sea sits at a warm, swimmable 24.6C, right at the lower edge of comfortable for most swimmers. The record: 9.4 hours of sun and AQI 50.

Regulars describe the sea here with a level of detail worth keeping: by late May the top metre or so has warmed while it stays noticeably colder just beneath, swimmable rather than comfortable for lingering. Our column reads 18.7C, and regulars specifically recommend June instead if the sea and settled weather matter more than avoiding crowds, since June's water is warmer even if only marginally so early in the month. Our row for May gives 23.9C reading as 25C over 15.9C nights, with 24.1mm of rain across 4.4 days - changeable early in the month, improving as it goes. The island stays genuinely quiet through May, busier but not excessively so once June arrives. The record: humidity 80 percent, 12.2 hours of sun, a 24.8 kph wind and AQI 55.

Regulars describe September as hot by day, sometimes cool and changeable in the first week and then settled, with any rain arriving warm. Our row gives 28.6C reading as 32C over 20.6C nights, and 64.3mm across only 4.9 days, so the wet part is brief. The sea, they say, is at its warmest now - 25.2C on our reading, level with the air's daily mean. The crowds of July and August have gone while everything stays open, with one caveat worth knowing: as the season winds down the resorts quieten and menus can narrow, because stocks are run down rather than replaced. The main villages are still working in late September. The record: humidity 72 percent, 10.8 hours of sun and a 25.2 kph wind.

June on Kefalonia is good and, by regulars' own accounts, unpredictable: some describe 28C days with 17 or 18C evenings, others 30 to 36C and nights that never turn chilly. Our row's 29.3C over 20.3C sits between the two, reading as 33C, with 15.1mm across 1.7 precipitation days and 13.3 hours of sun. Early June still has low visitor numbers, with the main towns busier but not oppressive, and everything is in flower and green before the summer burns it off. The island's famous beach comes with a condition: Myrtos is very exposed to wind and weather, so the postcard version needs a still day - our 22.4 kph is the average it has to beat. The record: humidity 81 percent, a 23.1C sea and AQI 57.

July on Kefalonia runs into the mid-30s C and often does not drop below 20C overnight, and the forum's specialist subject is the wind. It comes mostly from the west or northwest, strengthens through the late afternoon, and on a northerly day it makes swimming at the west-coast beaches - Myrtos above all, and Petani - genuinely dangerous rather than merely choppy. The wind itself is not cold; the problem is the water. The standing advice is to keep the famous beaches for calm days and have a sheltered east-coast alternative in mind. The record: 31.7C days that feel like 37C, 22.7C nights, 0.9 precipitation days, 13.3 hours of sun, a 25.7C sea and a 25 kph wind.