Türkiye Climate Patterns

Turkey has several distinct climates, and the difference between them is large enough that packing for one region tells you little about another.

The Mediterranean and Aegean coasts

Hot dry summers above 35°C and mild wet winters around 10 to 15°C. The sea is swimmable from May to late October. This is the climate most visitors picture.

The Black Sea coast

The wettest part of the country by a wide margin — Rize receives well over two metres a year — with rain in every month, mild winters and humid summers. It is green, forested and grows tea, which nowhere else in Turkey can.

The central plateau

Continental and semi-arid: hot dry summers, cold winters with snow, and a very wide daily range. Ankara and Cappadocia regularly drop below freezing between December and February, and Cappadocia under snow is one of the sights of the country.

The east

Harsh. Eastern Anatolia has long, severe winters — Kars and Erzurum fall below −20°C and are snowbound for months — and short warm summers. The south-east around Şanlıurfa and Diyarbakır is the opposite in summer, exceeding 45°C.

Istanbul

Transitional between Mediterranean and Black Sea: humid summers around 28°C, cool damp winters with occasional snow, and the lodos and poyraz winds off the Bosphorus that change the weather within hours.

When to swim, by coast

The Mediterranean around Antalya is comfortable from May into November and is the longest swimming season in the country. The Aegean warms a few weeks later and cools a few weeks earlier. The Black Sea rarely exceeds 24°C even in August and the Sea of Marmara sits between the two. It is the single most useful piece of practical climate knowledge for planning a coastal trip here.

Water

Turkey is increasingly water-stressed, with drought affecting the Aegean and the central plateau and reservoirs falling in recent years.