July Snow Blankets Highlands in Rize, Trabzon and Bayburt

Unseasonal snow fell across highland areas of Turkey’s eastern Black Sea region on 4 July, blanketing parts of Rize, Trabzon, Bayburt and Erzurum. Temperatures dropped sharply overnight, turning rain into snow in settlements located above 2,000 metres, including Anzer, Kavron and Samistal in Rize’s Kaçkar Dağları Milli Parkı and Varda Yaylası in Trabzon’s Of district. In Bayburt, the 2,400-metre-high Soğanlı Dağı and surrounding villages awoke to a white landscape, while higher elevations of Erzurum also recorded flurries. Local authorities reported no major disruptions, but residents were surprised by the rare mid-summer snowfall, which is more typical of late spring or early autumn in the region’s alpine terrain.