Those swirling lines and triangular symbols on a weather map are a language. Once you can read it, a single chart tells …
Sharing your station’s data to networks like Weather Underground and the Ambient network is free, easy, and turns your h…
Measuring air temperature accurately is far harder than it looks, and most home stations get it wrong for one avoidable …
Fog is simply a cloud at ground level, but the different ways it forms explain why some mornings are socked in and other…
A heat dome can lock a region into days of dangerous, record-breaking heat. The mechanism behind it is a particular trap…
La Niña reshuffles weather patterns across the globe in broadly predictable ways. Here’s what the pattern is, and the ki…
Ankara, the capital of Turkey, sits inland on the high central Anatolian plateau at around 900 metres above sea level, far from any moderating sea, at approximately 39.93°N, 32.86°E. Its altitude and continental position give it a cold semi-arid, continental-influenced climate (Köppen BSk/Dsa) — hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters — with a large temperature range and much less rain than the Turkish coasts.
Summer, from June to September, is hot, very dry and sunny, with July and August the hottest months — average highs around 30–31°C — but the plateau altitude and low humidity make the heat dry and the nights notably cool, giving a large day-to-night swing. Rain is scarce for months, and clear skies dominate, in sharp contrast to the humid, milder coasts.
Winter, from December to February, is cold, grey and snowy, with January the coldest month — average highs only a few degrees above freezing and lows well below it, and cold snaps that can drop temperatures below -15°C. Snow falls frequently and can lie on the ground for extended periods, and freezing fog forms during still, cold spells. The winters here are far harsher than in coastal Istanbul.
Ankara is dry, receiving only around 400 mm of precipitation a year — the central Anatolian plateau lies in a rain shadow — with a spring maximum around April and May and a very dry summer; a share of the cold-season total falls as snow. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.
Ankara's high, inland plateau setting gives it a genuinely continental climate — hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters with a wide seasonal and day-to-night temperature range — utterly unlike the mild, wet Turkish coasts. Spring and autumn are short, changeable transitional seasons, and spring, the wettest time, can bring thunderstorms to the otherwise arid plateau.
To follow any single measurement in Ankara more closely, use our live instruments: the online barometer for atmospheric pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the hygrometer for humidity, the anemometer for wind speed, the wind vane for wind direction, and the rain gauge for rainfall.