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Weather Overview for Istanbul

Typically the weather in Istanbul is in most cases similar to the Marmara region; a district that occupies the northwest corner of the country and represents 8.5 percent of the total area of Turkey.

The Bosphorus Strait and its surrounding environment are dominated by the Mediterranean climate but to the north you can detect a Black Sea climate; mainly rain. Meanwhile there is also an Anatolian Continental climate to its east; hot summers and cold winters. This city is so diverse, it can have entirely different climates in the same day, while snowing in one neighbourhood you can still see the sun shining on another part of the city.

The summer season lasts between June until September standing with common daytime temperatures of +40 °C. The warmest month is July with an average temperature of 47 °C, yet the coldest is January with an average temperature of 5°C.

The driest season significantly is summer. However, the climate cannot be defined as truly Mediterranean as there has been no records of a real summer drought. Over this season the winds become quite rapid, giving an average wind speed of 17 km/h. During the summer months, air temperature will go up to 30°C, with the highest recorded temperature in Istanbul in 1971 when it reached a whopping 47.5°C. Even though right through summer the air is very humid, the city experiences very little rainfall.

Autumn is by far the longest season, and throughout the larger part of the year the morning haze makes the skies as bright as mother-of-pearl. In September and October, except for perhaps two or three scorching weeks, there are usually crisp, overcast days. The weather can be unreliable in this region with such a combination of lands and seas. Morning clouds will usually clear towards noon and welcome the sun.

During the winter months, the temperature is around 10°C with nights becoming much cooler. The lowest recorded temperature was in 1991 when the climate dropped to a freezing -15°C. Istanbul will occasionally get a little snow but it wouldn’t be more than ten to twelve days in a total over the winter period.

In the springtime, particularly between April to May, there is a very comfortable climate reaching around 15°C to 25°C. Spring is very beautiful in Istanbul as the parks and gardens are decorated with tulips and other flowers. March is a fresh, rainy month, but April and May are precisely what one anticipates of the spring. June however, is half spring, half summer.

The average temperature in Istanbul, in a year, is around 19°C with an average relative humidity of 76%. Unlike many countries the inhabitants of Istanbul enjoy all four seasons - a short but sweet spring, an ultimate summer, a broad autumn with blue skies, and a mild but rainy winter.