Rain to bring brief relief from heat in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Türkiye is expected to come under the influence of a new weather system, with thunderstorms forecast in many provinces over the weekend and heavy rain expected in Istanbul.

The Istanbul Governor’s Office warned that locally strong thunderstorms were expected from morning until evening, especially in European-side districts including Çatalca, Silivri, Büyükçekmece, Beylikdüzü, Esenyurt, Arnavutköy and Başakşehir.

The rain is expected to bring a brief break from the heat, with air temperatures forecast to fall by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius and perceived temperatures by around 5 degrees.

CNN Türk meteorology adviser Prof. Dr. Orhan Şen said Istanbul’s temperature could drop to around 29 degrees over the weekend, but added that the rain would affect the city only on Saturday.

“The rain will enter from the north in the morning. Strong thunderstorms will be seen on the European side until noon and will continue across the city until the evening,” Şen said.

He said rainfall would also spread across the Marmara region, the Aegean and the western Mediterranean, while no rain was expected in Istanbul on Sunday.

Şen said local showers would continue in the Mediterranean and could be seen in many parts of Anatolia next week.

Temperatures are expected to rise again from Monday, with Türkiye likely to face another heatwave in the second week of July, he said.

The hot spell has already affected several southeastern provinces, including Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep, Adıyaman and Kahramanmaraş.

In Şanlıurfa, temperatures reached 44 degrees, while in Adıyaman, where temperatures climbed to around 40 degrees, asphalt melted on a roughly 3-kilometer section of road near Şambayat.

The heat follows a severe late-June heatwave in parts of Europe, where authorities reported thousands of excess deaths.

France recorded 2,025 additional deaths during the week of June 22, while Belgium reported about 1,200 excess deaths between June 18 and 29.

Boğaziçi University climate expert Prof. Dr. Murat Türkeş warned that failure to phase out coal and shift toward renewable energy would deepen the climate crisis.

He said the crisis could increasingly turn into a security issue through mass migration and conflicts over resources.