Off to Turkey for a holiday, vacation or business trip? To know what to pack you need a weather forecast. Here we run you through the weather patterns in Turkey.
The weather in Turkey varies between regions from the north of Turkey where the climate is similar to European countries down to the South where the weather is warmer and similar to the Middle East.
The capital city of Ankara is situated on the high plains in the centre of Turkey so the weather can be especially cold during the winter with temperatures dropping to -5°C although this warms up considerably during the sunny summer months where temperatures reach as high as the mid 30′s °C. During spring and autumn the weather in this part of Turkey is pleasant with temperatures of around 20°C . Compared to the rest of Turkey the weather here is drier with average monthly rainfall rarely exceeding 40mm during the spring showers. Humidity fluctuates between 30% during the summer up to approximately 60% during the months of December and January.
The weather in Turkey’s main city of Istanbul, which is in the north east of the country close to Greece, is slightly less variant with winter lows rarely going below 0°C and summer temperatures of around 30°C . The weather in this part of Turkey is wettest during the winter months between November and March when average monthly rainfall reaches 100mm which drops during the summer months of June to September to about 30-40 mm each month. Humidity levels during the summer are about 30% although the weather becomes more humid in winter when levels reach 60%.
The weather on the Eastern coast of Turkey in cities like is Izmir is similar to Istanbul in terms of temperature with lows of around 0°C and highs reaching between 30-35°C during the summer. The main difference in weather in this part of Turkey is that it receives more rainfall during the winter (about 120mm) but hardly any rain during the summer.
The weather in the south of Turkey has similar summer temperatures to Izmir although it stays warmer during the winter with lows of around 5°C. During spring and autumn the weather is pleasant with temperatures of around 20°C . Although there is almost no rain during the summer this part of Turkey can receive up to 240mm average monthly rainfall in winter. Humidity fluctuations are less significant in cities like Antalya where levels stay between 40 and 50% all year round.
The weather in the south east of Turkey can be especially hot during the summer reaching over 40°C although it can go below 0°C during the winter. The weather is very dry during the summer with practically no rainfall although there is about 80mm rainfall during the winter months on average. Conversely humidity levels are very low during the summer at only 10-20% while reaching as high as 60% during the rainy winter months.
