Turkey is on the verge of a downpour to be followed by heavy snowfall, the Turkish State Meteorological Service (TSMS) warned on Sunday.
According to the forecast, the temperatures will gradually fall amid the downpour and low temperatures will affect the entire country.
Heavy rain is set to roll in at the beginning of the week, which will end with heavy snow in multiple provinces by the weekend, directorate data showed.
The snowfall is set to begin mid-week and will envelop the country as temperatures drop. Many parts of Turkey's landlocked regions will see snow flurries, the directorate said.
The Marmara region, home to the country’s biggest metropolis Istanbul as well as the Mediterranean region, southern areas of central Anatolia and eastern Anatolia, southeastern Anatolia, the northeastern and eastern areas of eastern Anatolia, eastern areas of eastern Black Sea region, the central Anatolian provinces Eskişehir and the capital Ankara plus the northwestern Düzce province will see heavy snow, the data said.
The downward trend in temperatures, which remain below seasonal norms, will continue this week, especially in northern, central and eastern Anatolia.
Coastal areas of Turkey will mainly see heavy downpours, the forecasts also said.
Wednesday will mark the fall in temperatures, which are expected to plummet to 4-5 degrees Celsius (39-41 degrees Fahrenheit) in Istanbul, 2-4 degrees Celsius in capital Ankara and 7-11 degrees in Izmir.
Although winter has ended, sporadic snowfall still threatens to disrupt daily life in most provinces across Turkey. The TSMS also warned recently that 63 provinces were exposed to heavy snowfall, rain and strong winds. On Thursday, schools were shut down in five provinces, including Afyon, Denizli and Isparta in the west, Sinop in the north, the central province of Konya, as well as a town in the otherwise warm Muğla in the southwest.
Snowfall also shut down several roads, including one connecting Konya to Afyon and Isparta where the traffic came to a halt due to blizzards. The western province of Burdur also saw two roads connecting it to Antalya and the capital Ankara shut down due to snowfall on Wednesday night.
The TSMS also warned against avalanche risk in eastern Anatolia and higher ground in parts of the eastern Black Sea region, while it issued a warning for possible storms in eastern parts of the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, along with eastern Anatolia, with winds expected to reach the speeds of 90 kph (55 mph).
