Greece and Turkey are experiencing a late-season cold spell this weekend, because apparently spring had other plans. An area of low pressure over Turkey is pulling in cold, moist air from the northeast via the Black Sea, suppressing temperatures well below seasonal norms. Away from the Mediterranean coast, much of Turkey struggled to reach double digits - roughly 10C below average - while Greece saw a similar chill. In Athens, temperatures only crept into the low teens Celsius, a far cry from the mid-20s typically expected in early May.
But it's not just the cold. Gale-force winds whipped through the South Aegean islands, gusting at around 60mph on Sunday evening, and heavy rain has surged into Turkey. The Central Anatolia region normally sees about 50mm of rainfall across the entire month of May, but on Sunday many areas had already picked up half that total in just 24 hours. With colder air in place, higher elevations are seeing a return to winter, with up to 30cm of fresh snow forecast across the Anti-Taurus Mountains on Monday and Tuesday. In Ankara, temperatures on Monday were expected to peak at just 7C - nearly 14C below average - before slowly edging back toward normal by the weekend.