Foreign News: Wet and windy weather Sweeps Across Cyprus.

Winter has returned with a force with some areas of the island being lashed by gale force winds and rain on Friday morning.

The Meteorological Service forecast says the prevailing weather conditions will only start clearing up as of Monday.

With a small drop in temperature, showers and isolated thunder showers are expected across the island with some areas set to continue experiencing gale force winds.

Temperatures inland and along the coast are expected to be 18°C while temperatures on Troodos are expected to fall to 8°C.

A similar weather pattern is expected over the weekend with a further small drop in temperature.

In the meantime and despite the rains, the Cyprus Air Quality Department of the Labour Ministry has warned 

about the presence of dust in the atmosphere and has appealed to people in vulnerable groups to alert.