Turkey's eastern and northeastern regions have been besieged with heavy snowfall this week. Heavy snowstorms in the region have led to the closure of schools in the Van province in the east, Giresun, Rize and Artvin provinces in the north, while roads to hundreds of villages and neighborhoods in eastern Turkey remained closed as of Tuesday.

As Turkey's west is seeing relatively mild weather, the inner regions of the country are gripped with snowfall, a characteristic for cities with a dry, rough climate in December.

The incoming winter is taking its toll mostly in Van, Bitlis and Muş, three provinces where access to 242 villages and neighborhoods have been cut off due to heavy snow blanketing the roads and severe blizzards.

Road clearing crews are working around the clock to restore traffic, while the weather forecast is showing continued snowfall and further decrease in temperatures that are already fluctuating slightly above and below zero. Additionally, traffic in areas with open roads was also affected by fog in Bitlis.