Turkey Climate
Top 5 Cities: Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, and Antalya
This month in numbers
Turkey experienced an April that was 0.5°C warmer than the 1961–1990 baseline, ranking as the 34th warmest April in 86 years of records. The global land temperature for April 2026 was 14.96°C, an anomaly of +1.1°C, making it the 2nd warmest April on record globally.
What changed
The period of February to April 2026 saw an average temperature of 6.04°C, which is 1.1°C above the 1961–1990 average, ranking as the 24th warmest such period on record. This comes after 2025 was recorded as Turkey's warmest year on record, with an average temperature of 13.34°C. The country's long-term warming trend stands at +1.77°C compared to the 1961–1990 baseline. While Turkey's April anomaly was +0.48°C, placing it 216th out of 234 regions globally for the month, the broader Asia group experienced a 1-month anomaly of +1.77°C, with Turkey being significantly cooler than its group average.
What’s driving change?
Turkey is currently experiencing a stark climate divide, with persistent drought conditions in western and central provinces, while eastern regions have seen unusually high moisture levels. This two-year rainfall deficit has become chronic, impacting agricultural production and water resources, particularly in areas like Eskişehir, Kütahya, Afyon, Uşak, and western Ankara. Major cities such as Ankara have faced water cuts due to historically low reservoir levels. This ongoing drought is exacerbated by rising temperatures and increased evaporation, which could lead to severe drought conditions unprecedented for Turkey.
The current ENSO state is Neutral, with a +0.11°C anomaly for February-April 2026. However, forecasts indicate a strong likelihood of El Niño developing in the coming months, with a 61% chance for May-July and a 79% chance for June-August, reaching 87% for July-September ENSO tracker. El Niño typically brings warmer and drier conditions to Turkey, which could further intensify the existing drought.
In contrast to the drought in the west, April saw heavy rain and strong winds affecting large parts of Turkey, with yellow weather alerts issued for 31 provinces on April 2nd. This included heavy rainfall in areas like the Mediterranean, western Black Sea, and parts of central and southeastern Turkey. Furthermore, a powerful supercell storm struck southeastern Turkey on May 3rd, bringing heavy rain, hail, violent winds, and a tornado to Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa, causing fatalities, injuries, and significant damage to infrastructure. This event, along with unseasonal snowfall in western regions, highlights increasing climate instability and a rise in extreme weather events across Turkey over the past 15 years.
Looking ahead
Seasonal forecasts suggest that spring temperatures are likely to be 1–2 degrees Celsius above long-term averages, with a significant temperature increase expected across Turkey by the second half of May.
Sources:
Generated by Gemini from climate data and web sources
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Data Sources
Data Sources for Turkey
Every figure on this page is sourced from official, openly published climate datasets. Anomalies are calculated against the 1961–1990 baseline (temperature) and 1991–2020 (rainfall, sunshine, frost) — see the Methodology & Sources page for the complete dataset list and update calendar.
FAQs
FAQs
How is the climate in Turkey changing?
Turkey is warming in line with the rest of the world. The page above shows the latest monthly temperature anomaly versus the 1961-1990 baseline, the long-term annual trend, and the region's rank in the historical record. The trend rate is shown as °C per decade in the headline panel; you can also see the warmest and coolest years on file.
Where does the climate data for Turkey come from?
Climate data for Turkey comes from Our World in Data, sourcing Copernicus ERA5 and HadCRUT5 (national temperature anomaly) and the Global Carbon Project via Our World in Data (CO₂ emissions), refreshed every month, when the upstream temperature and rainfall data are refreshed.
What is the climate baseline used on this page?
Anomalies on this page are calculated against the 1961-1990 climatological baseline, which is the standard reference period used by the Met Office, NOAA, IPCC and most national climate services. Some panels also show the source-native 1901-2000 (NOAA) or 1991-2020 (WMO) baselines for verification. See Methodology & Sources for the full reference.
Which areas does the Turkey climate data cover?
The Turkey climate profile covers Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and surrounding areas. Temperature, rainfall and emissions data for Turkey
How often is the Turkey climate update refreshed?
The Turkey climate update is refreshed monthly, typically a few days after the previous month closes and the upstream provider (Met Office HadUK-Grid, NOAA Climate at a Glance, Copernicus ERA5 or the Global Carbon Project) publishes its update. See the Climate Rankings for cross-region comparisons.