Heavy snow hits Turkey’s northeast as southwest burns

Friday, a rare coverage of heavy snow fell on certain parts of northeast Turkey while the rest of the country completed in the burning summer heat with firefighters fighting against forest fires, local media reported.

Experts claim that climate change focused on humans causes extremely frequent and more intense time events, droughts with heat waves and hailstorms.

Temperatures have plunged into several mountainous areas inside the lands of Rize, a city on the coast of Northeast Turkey of the Black Sea, which is around 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the border with Georgia.

Gencaga Karafazlioglu, a local Rize journalist, said that the region – known for its lush greenery and strong precipitation – was used on unusual weather conditions but said that he had never seen snow before in July.

“It has been snowing for about four or five hours. I am 65 years old, I live in Rize for most of my life, and this is the first time that I have seen snow in July,” he told AFP.

“In rize, we are used to the summary of anomalies. We had snow several times in March but never so much. The older generation says he has seen snow on 30 or 40 years, but never so much.”

In Ovit Yaylasi, a tray about 2,500 meters above sea level, the fields could be seen covered in white, the aerial sky heavy with snow, showed images on social networks.

The snowfall covered an area that extends over at least 100 kilometers, from the Anzer Yaylasi plateau through the Kackar mountain national park and beyond, in a region known for its livestock farming.

“The city of Artvin was the worst blow,” said Karafazlioglu about a city of 50 kilometers inside the land at 350 meters above sea level.

The Whiteout came while firefighters were fighting against a series of forest fires in Izmir province, about 1,600 kilometers to the west, where temperatures had to reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees fahrenheit) in the coming days.

© 2025 AFP