Snowfall hit the plateaus of northeastern Turkey today, as firefighters battle flames 1,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) further west along the coast.
Snow fell in several provinces in eastern Anatolia, including Rizunda, Trabzon, Bayburt and Erzurum, unprecedented weather conditions in decades, Turkish media reported.
According to a journalist in the region who spoke to Agence France-Presse from Rizunda, the snowfall lasted nearly five hours: “I am 65 years old, I have spent almost all my life in Rizunda, this is the first time I have seen snow in July,” said Gendzaga Karafazlioglu.
“It snowed for about four to five hours,” he described. “The Artvin region (near the border with Georgia) was hit the hardest. In Rizunda, we used to have climatic anomalies… The older people say they have already seen snow in July 30-40 years ago, but not since then.”
Footage reported from Rizunda by the DHA news agency shows a stone house covered by more than 10 centimetres of snow.
It snowed across the northeastern part of the country, over an area about 100 kilometres long.
According to the state-run Anadolu News Agency, torrential rains hit Trabzon province and turned to snow in some parts as the air temperature recorded a big drop.
