Vardar
- Axios redirects here. For the town in Greece see Axios, Thessaloniki.
The Vardar ( Greek: Axios,Axius or Αξιός , the ancient and current Greek name of the river) is the longest river in the FYR Macedonia. It is 388 kilometres long, and drains an area of around 25,000 km².
The river begins at Vrutok, a few kilometers north of Tetovo in the FYR Macedonia. It passes through Skopje and into Veles (city), crosses the Greek border near Gevgelija, Polykastro and Axioupoli ("town on the Axiós"), before flowing into the Aegean Sea in Central Macedonia west of Thessaloniki in northern Greece.
The Vardar basin includes 80% of the territory of the FYR Macedonia, which some have also called "Vardar Macedonia" after the river.
The valley comprises fertile lands in the Kilkis and Thessaloniki prefectures and Gevgelija and other parts. The river is surrounded by mountains elsewhere. The superhighways Greece Interstate 1 in Greece and M1 and E75 run within the valley along the river's entire length to near Skopje.
The river valley has given its name to the vardháris or vardarac, a northerly prevailing ravine wind which blows down the length of the valley to bring cold conditions to the Thessaloniki area of Greece. It occurs when atmospheric pressure over eastern Europe is higher than over the Aegean Sea, as is often the case in winter. It is somewhat similar to the mistral wind of France.
The hydronym Vardar derives from the group of ancient pre-Slavic languages once spoken in the region. It is considered to be a Thracian river-name, probably from PIE *sword(o)-wori-, "black water".
Vardar is also a team name for a soccer teams in Skopje and in Clarkston, Michigan.
