Temperature to increase significantly in Turkey in 30 years due to global warming, warns climate expert

ISTANBUL

Temperature in Istanbul, Turkey’s most populous city, might increase to as high as 45 degrees Celsius and sea level in the city is “likely to rise after 2050” due to the adverse effects of climate change, according to Prof. Dr. Levent Kurnaz at Boğazici University.

“The sea level will rise to cover the entrance of the metro in the Kadıköy district on the Asian side of the city,” Kurnaz said, adding that the impact of climate change will be felt across the country, especially after 2050.

Starting from 2070, the regions to the west of the Erzincan province are likely to receive no snow, according to Kurnaz, the Director of the Center for Climate Change and Policy Studies at Boğaziçi University.

He suggested the southern half of Turkey would become a desert after 2100.

The temperature in the country’s southern regions, which currently hovers around 38-40 degrees Celsius, will increase to 45-50 degrees, Kurnaz said, adding that such a dramatic change will have far reaching consequences and might also affect the country’s tourism industry.

Severe weather conditions

The global temperature has risen by 6 degrees, so businesspeople who are investing in ski resorts might want to revise their plans accordingly, Kurnaz said.

The resorts and facilities that are visited mostly for skiing during the winter season, might become favorable spots in the summer seasons 20 years from now, as people will seek cooler places to spend the summer, according to the climate expert.

Earlier this year, a snow hydrologist working at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) also issued a similar warning for Turkey.

Turkey will face less snow and more rainfall from now on due to global warming, with more incidents of floods occurring in the country, Dr. Thomas Painter told daily Habertürk in January.

“There will be more floods and there should be more investments in infrastructure to combat this. Some places, on the other hand, will experience droughts. So dams should be built for clean water,” he said.

“The problem we go through in global warming is this: The hotter the climate is, the more water falls in the form of instead of snow,” Dr. Painter added.