The Eastern Adriatic euro Mediterranean zone includes the largest part of our coast from the southern Istria and Kvarner islands to Albania. Šolta is also a part of this zone, and has all the climate characteristics. It has long and very warm summers, almost completely dry and with no precipitation, while winters are very cold, rainy and very often blow sirocco (south wind) and bora (north wind).Another characteristic of Šolta’s summer are very high air temperatures (over 30°C) and also high sea temperatures (21°C - 22°C).
In In July an average temperature in shade is around 30°C what is the temperature maximum. Temperature gradually drops during August, September and October. In November and December it is constant (around 15°C), while the lowest temperature is in January (10°C) that represents the temperature minimum.
Šolta with its 16°C average annual air temperature and medium precipitation (807 mm) is in a medium warm and medium dry zone so it is pleasant for living and very good for tourism development.
As to winds the most important as in the whole Adriatic are jugo (sirocco), bura (bora) and maestral (mistral, maestrale).
Mistral is a typical summer wind and blows constantly all day from the northwest.
Bora is a dry and cold wind, which blows from the direction of Split. The coast to the west of Rogač (mostly uninhabited) is the most exposed to the strongest blows of bora. During winter it gusts up for 4 to 6 days and can cause problems in regular lines to Split.
Sirocco with its frequent galeforce gusts completely changed the southern part of Šolta that is mostly wild and steep so very inconvenient for living. It can last 5 to 10 days, it gradually becomes stronger and bringing rain it causes huge waves. The wind and the sea are constant (force 7 to 8). During sirocco the water is high and the air warm and humid (cyclonic sirocco). There is also anticyclonic sirocco. It is dry and without clouds.
| HYDROLOGIC FEATURES |
The last study of Šolta’s sea characteristics was done in 1984. Transparency and salinity level together with sea temperature were measured.
It was done at a depth of 20, 50 and 100 m. (P1, P2 and P3). The study showed the following results:
a) Temperature
| month | III | VI | IX | XII |
| P1-20m | 12,18° | 17,86° | 19,05° | 16,22° |
| P2-50m | 12,43° | 21,91° | 21,55° | 14,96° |
| P3-100m | 13,03° | 16,77° | 17,76° | 16,30° |
A very important phenomenon concerning the sea temperature is thermocline (sudden fall of temperature) that appears in summer months. From the following data we can see that thermocline in that area appears in June and September. The highest thermocline is at the P1 station in June - between 0 and 10 m and it is 5.39°C.
b) Transparency
The following chart shows us the sea transparence level in meters for that area.
| month | III | VI | IX | XII |
| P1-20m | 23 | 16 | 19 | 15 |
| P2-50m | 23 | 21 | 23 | 17 |
| P3-100m | 26 | 33 | 30 | 23 |
c) Salinity
| month | III | VI | IX | XII |
| P1-20m | 37,94 | 37,54 | 37,94 | 37,68 |
| P2-50m | 38,01 | 37,52 | 37,95 | 38,05 |
| P3-100m | 38,09 | 38,00 | 38,43 | 38,83 |
The sea salinity is expressed by grams in a liter and in the following chart there are average month (during season) salinity values at different stations.
You can see that the sea in the area of Maslinica (P 3) has a higher salinity because it is under the influence of the open sea as opposed to the northern side that is under the influence of the mainland.
If you take a map of Croatia and look at middle Dalmatian islands, to the west of the island of Brač you’ll see a very developed but not very large island of Šolta.
To the north it is separated from the mainland by Split channel, to the east it is separated from the island of Brač by the Strait of Split (0,7 km) and to the west it is separated from Drvenik Veli by the Šolta channel (3,5 km). In the north of Šolta is the Čiovo peninsula (distant 7,3 km), to the southeast is the island of Hvar (14,5 km) and to the south is the island of Vis (29 km).
Šolta is 13th largest of Croatian islands and it belongs to midsize Dalmatian islands. Krk, Cres, Brač, Hvar, Pag, Korcula, Dugi otok, Mljet, Rab, Vis, Lo‘inj, Pa‘man are larger than Šolta while smaller nearby islands are Čiovo and Drvenik Veli.