Surprise snow blankets NE Turkey as temps soar across the country

ISTANBUL – A blanket of snow has covered the eastern province of Ardahan in mid-May as temperatures continue to rise in the rest of the country. Heavy rainfall turned into snow late Sunday through Monday morning. Residents of the province were surprised to wake up to a snowy day in the middle of May, a time when many expect spring to arrive. The provincial capital saw five centimeters of snowfall and registered a low of zero degrees Celsius. The State Meteorology Directorate warned residents of Ardahan to prepare for snowfall at higher altitudes and issued a flood watch for the rest of the province. Other parts of the country, however, are welcoming spring in earnest. State Meteorology Directorate General Director Mehmet Çağlar told the Anatolia news agency that temperatures would be at seasonal norms starting this week. The temperatures were below seasonal averages in the northern, central and western parts of the country earlier this month. The weather is expected to get warmer through the middle of this week, and temperatures are likely to go above seasonal norms by 1-3 degrees Celsius in the central provinces. Showers are in the Tuesday forecast for Afyonkarahisar, Ardahan, Bolu, Burdur, Denizli, Erzurum, Isparta, Karabük, Kastamonu, Kütahya and Uşak. They are expected nationwide on Thursday, while on Friday and over the weekend the northern and central provinces are expected to continue receiving rainfall. –Today’s Zaman