Istanbul and capital Ankara were blanketed with snow Wednesday, while weather forecasts indicate temperatures will fluctuate between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius and will occasionally drop even lower throughout the week.

Turkey has been hit with downpours since the weekend, especially in the country's western areas, and it has evolved into snowfall in the northwest on Tuesday. In Istanbul, the first snowfall of the year hit Kartal, a district on city's Asian side, in the early hours yesterday. Around the same time, several districts of the capital Ankara at higher elevations than downtown were affected by the snowfall. The Ankara governorate office warned motorists to use mass transit instead of their cars due to expected snowfall all across the city today and urged those hitting the road in their own vehicles to use tire chains. Snowfall in Ankara is expected to prevail through today although the weather forecast shows a pause in precipitation on Friday. Snowfall will resume on Saturday before it degrades into rainfall on Sunday and will make a comeback on Monday. The lowest temperatures for Ankara today will be -3 degrees and -5 degrees Celsius on Friday when mostly cloudy weather will prevail.

Temperatures will be relatively higher for Istanbul today and tomorrow although they will remain below 15 degrees Celsius with cloudy weather. Rainfall and lower temperatures are predicted for Monday, while the weekend will be a cloudy occasion with the highest temperatures a predicted 11 degrees Celsius for Saturday and 12 degrees Celsius on Sunday.