snow

It's a common misconception that Turkey is in the Middle East, and that the Middle East is all a big hot desert, which could be why many people are surprised when I mention how cold Istanbul winters are. So I thought I'd share with you a few fun geographical facts on this fine January day.

The Republic of Turkey sits in between the Middle East and Europe, bordered by Greece in the west, Bulgaria in the northwest, Georgia in the northeast, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran in the east, and Iraq and Syria in the south. What isn't bordered by land is met with water. The mysterious Black Sea lies to our north, the turquoise Aegean in the west, Mediterranean in the south, and the little Marmara Sea and Bosphorus separate our European side from our Asian side, Anatolia. At 783,562 square kilometers, we are the world's 37th largest country, and have quite a wide variety of winters ranging from Mediterranean warmth to frigid arid plateaus, to snowy mountain ranges and wet northern sea coasts.

So does it snow in Istanbul?


Occasionally.