🇹🇷Turkey

Turkey (783,562 km²) spans 36°–42°N, 26°–45°E across the Anatolian Peninsula, Turkish Thrace, and the Armenian Highland, forming a transcontinental bridge between Europe and Asia with extraordinary climate diversity governed by latitude, proximity to three surrounding seas (Mediterranean, Aegean, Black Sea), and dramatic topography rising from sea level to over 5,100 m at Mount Ararat.

The Mediterranean coast (Köppen Csa) exhibits classic hot-summer Mediterranean climate with scorching, rainless summers, mild, wet winters (January highs about 15°C, nights 6–8°C), and annual precipitation of 600–1,200 mm concentrated November–March, supporting olive groves, citrus orchards, and coastal pine forests across Antalya, Mersin, and Muğla provinces.

The Black Sea coastlands feature humid temperate to subtropical conditions (Köppen Cfa/Cfb) with year-round rainfall totaling about 700–2,300 mm, mild winters (January highs 9–11°C), warm summers (July highs 26–28°C), and lush Colchian deciduous forests of hornbeam, chestnut, and rhododendron thriving in the eastern Rize-Trabzon corridor.

The Anatolian interior plateau exhibits continental semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk/Dsa) with extreme temperature ranges: Ankara has January highs of about 5°C with nights near −2°C and July highs of about 31°C, precipitation drops to 300–500 mm annually with severe summer aridity, and the central steppe supports dryland wheat cultivation across the Konya Basin and Central Anatolia.

The mountainous east (including the Pontic, Taurus, and Anti-Taurus ranges) creates complex orographic patterns: the northeastern highlands around Erzurum, Kars, and Ardahan experience harsh continental to subarctic climates (Köppen Dfb/Dfc) with January nights around −15°C, frigid snowy winters, brief summers (July highs 24–28°C, nights near 10°C), and precipitation of 400–700 mm supporting alpine meadows and coniferous forests.

Istanbul (41.0°N) exemplifies the transitional Marmara climate, with July highs of about 28°C and January highs of about 9°C (nights near 4°C) and 865 mm annual precipitation. The July 2017 hailstorm produced golf-ball-sized hail, causing vehicle damage, flooding, and disruptions across the city.

The Summer 2021 wildfires, driven by heatwaves and drought, burned about 160,000–170,000 hectares across Mediterranean provinces, destroying infrastructure and homes. On 15 August 2023, Sarıcakaya in Eskişehir Province reached 49.5°C, then Turkey's highest temperature on record, a mark surpassed by 50.5°C at Silopi in July 2025. The August 2021 Black Sea floods struck Kastamonu, Sinop, and Bartın when torrential rains triggered flash flooding and mudslides through steep valleys, destroying bridges and roads and forcing more than 1,800 people to evacuate.

Our archive covers 109 Turkish cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The hottest July afternoons are in Cizre, with average highs around 41°C, while Erzurum has the coldest January nights, with average lows near −11.7°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.9°C.