İstanbul braces for snow on Wednesday

Mustafa Yıldırım, the regional head of the State Meteorology Directorate in İstanbul, said temperatures that were above the seasonal average in İstanbul last week began falling with rainfall on Saturday. Stating that rain is expected to continue today and tomorrow, Yıldırım said temperatures will remain below the seasonal average until next week. Yıldırım further stated that yesterday the temperature was 11 degrees Celsius and added, "Today, it is 10 degrees Celsius with rain, and tomorrow it is expected to be 8 degrees and rainy, while on Tuesday, the temperatures will fall 2 degrees more and on Wednesday, rain mixed with snow is expected. There will be snow in the higher elevations of the city."

Noting that rain is moving into Turkey from the central Mediterranean, Yıldırım said the country will also be affected by a cold front from the Balkans. He added that yesterday 30 kilograms of rain per square meter fell in Eminönü, 29 kilograms in Göztepe, 23 in Sarıyer, 21 in Kumköy, 17 in Florya, 15 in Şile and 18 in the district of Samandıra.

Meanwhile, snow has already started in the other provinces of the country. Freezing cold weather that lasted throughout the past week in southeastern province of Hakkari resulted in snow yesterday early in the morning. In eastern province of Van, the snow began on Saturday night and it stopped yesterday in the morning. Stating that the snow depth is five centimeters in the province, the officials from regional state meteorology directorate said the snow is expected to continue today and the following day and added that the temperatures are expected to be five degrees Celcius during the day while it may drop as low as minus nine degrees at night. Another province which sees snow is central province of Sivas. The temperatures that was as low as minus 15-18 degrees Celcius last week has risen up to minus five degrees with the snow. In all provinces, children enjoyed the snow and the weather that have been softened by snow.

Besides, the important winter tourism centers such as Uludağ in western Bursa province, Kartepe in northwestern Kocaeli province and Ilgaz in northern Kastamonu province are also enjoying the rising depth of snow. As of yesterday, the snow depth in Uludağ has reached to 30 centimeters while it has reached to 45 centimeters in Ilgaz and 30 centimeters in Kartepe.