Climate in Rize (Turkey)

In Rize the climate is humid subtropical, with some oceanic characteristics, with mild winters, warm summers, and very abundant rainfall.
Rize is a city of 140,000 inhabitants located in the north-east of Turkey, in the eastern part of the Black Sea coast, the most humid and rainy.
Immediately south of the city there are hills. We are in fact at the foot of the Pontus Mountains, in the part called Kaçkar mountains, which 55 km (35 mi) to the southeast reach 3,937 meters (12,917 ft).



Precipitation is decidedly abundant, since it amounts to 2,300 millimeters (90.5 inches) per year. There is no dry season, although the least rainy months are April and May, while the rainiest season is autumn. Summer is very rainy, although the rains are not constant, but are concentrated in periods of bad weather that last a few days.

The sun does not shine very often, even in July and August, when there are only 5/5.5 hours of sunshine a day. With 1,500 hours of sunshine a year, Rize receives less sun than London and Paris.

A warm, föhn-type wind can come down from the mountains, which can bring the temperature up to 20 °C (68 °F) in winter and 35 °C (95 °F) in June and September, perhaps only for a day, while in July and August it generally does not blow.

Even though the winter is quite mild, there can be cold periods, during which the wind from the north, from Russia, is loaded with humidity as it passes over the Black Sea, and in which the temperature remains around freezing, and snow or rain mixed with snow may fall. Snowfall can be heavy at times.
Given the influence of the sea, the temperature on the coast does not drop much at night. In recent decades, the coldest record is -4.4 °C (24 °F), set in February 2020.

Summer is definitely less hot than on the southern coast of Turkey, but it is also a little less hot than in Istanbul and the western part of the Black Sea coast. Furthermore, the sun does not shine very often, and rains and thunderstorms are quite frequent, and sometimes abundant. June is the sunniest month, but it is still a bit cool, and the sea is also cool.
In fact, the sea is warm enough for swimming from July to September.
The north-eastern coast of Turkey is also quite protected from heat waves, and although there can be some muggy periods, the temperature rarely reaches 30 °C (86 °F). The only exception is the days when the wind blows from the mountains, which however are very rare, and as we said, generally do not occur in July and August.

Rize - Climate data

In Rize, the average temperature of the coldest month (February) is of 7.4 °C, that of the warmest month (August) is of 24.6 °C. Here are the average temperatures.