Istanbul may experience its warmest January: Experts
ISTANBUL
While temperatures above seasonal norms will increase further in the coming days, Istanbul may experience its warmest January, experts say.
Leaving half of January behind, there is still no snowfall in a large part of the country.
Noting that the southwester winds will start to be effective in Türkiye and increase the temperatures during the whole week, prominent meteorologist Orhan Şen stated that the hottest days of January may be experienced in the Marmara region and the Black Sea regions.
“We can see the temperature records of January in the Marmara region and the western parts of the Black Sea region. Istanbul temperature record for January was seen in 2010 and the temperature was 18 degrees,” Şen expressed.
“But now we expect a temperature to rise to 20 degrees. Istanbul will break its October temperature record” he added.
It is expected that high temperatures will also be observed in the northern provinces of Samsun, Ordu, Kocaeli and the northwestern provinces of Bursa, Balıkesir and Çanakkale.
Reminding that the weather conditions that would allow snowfall in the central Anatolia Region have not yet been formed, Şen said that the temperature in the central Anatolia region in January should have been 8 degrees below zero.
Even in the eastern province of Erzurum, where the temperature drops to 10 degrees below zero, the temperatures will rise to 7-8 degrees this week, Şen noted, adding that all these are indicators of drought the country will experience this year.
“The agricultural drought continues quite severely. In many regions, seeds were planted but did not germinate. 50 percent of the seeds became garbage due to low precipitation. It looks like there will be a shortage of grain this year,” Şen explained.
Meteorologist Güven Özdemir also pointed out that the temperatures will increase until the end of this month, adding that spring weather will be observed in the coming days.
Referring to the drought and water problem, Özdemir said that there is a five-month water deficit across the country.
“We need to accept that the climate change is the most important issue of the country and update our policies. Urgent risk management plans need to be established,” he added.
