INFORMATION REQUEST: Home Inspection Trip
Weather in North Cyprus
You would think that because Northern Cyprus is a relatively small place, for the most part the weather would be the same for the entire country. While that is true there are very real differences in several areas.
For example, the strip along the North Coast, including Kyrenia, gets more rain than the interior. This difference is enough to create noticeably different fauna; this strip is obviously greener. This blessing comes at a cost: occasionally hard storms can lash the coast dumping enough rain to create floods.
The graphic above shows the average daily highs and lows for each month. The temps are displayed in Fahrenheit.
The area around Nicosia (the center of the Island) it tends to be dry and hotter. The land is brown for much of the year and cars on tracks (older dirt roads) leave dusty plumes.
Along the South-East coast, we find Famagusta & Iskele. This area is also dry but tends to be cooler than Nicosia thanks to sea breezes of the Mediterranean. The area lacks the weather extremes of Kyrenia. The breeze makes for pleasant evenings most of the year.
Much of this difference in weather is due to the mountain ridge that runs east to west along the North Coast. Cyprus was formed by volcanic activity and there are high mountains in the south central interior of the country. The lower mountains along the coast range from 1000 to about 1400 meters. High enough to get a bit of morning snow on some Winter mornings but not as high as the mountains to the South.
The graph above displays average rainfall, in inches, for every month of the year. Each of the five lines across the graph corresponds to one inch of rain.
The entire Island turns green during the Winter. These cooler months mark the rainy season. Farmers plant crops and wild mustard flowers in every open field. It will rain once or twice a week in January and February.
The rest of the year is marked by passing showers perhaps once a month. The land becomes dry and the grass turns brown. This semi-arid landscape will look familiar to folks from areas like Southern California. In the middle of the Summer it may not rain at all for perhaps two months.
The period from December through to March features party cloudy skies most days but the temperature never drops below freezing unless you're on the mountain tops. In the Winter the wind can be a little nippy. You will not need a heavy jacket and gloves, even on the coldest days.
It can become uncomfortably hot in July & August. Most days have deep blue skies without one single cloud… the entire day. This pattern can hold for weeks. Solar hot water is normal on almost all homes and solar panels are now common. In general, the weather is warm and pleasant for almost the entire year. The Island lacks the humidity that plagues places like Texas and Florida. While the temperatures are similar, the humid, sweaty days are few in number.
One odd weather related item of interest: several times a year dust from the Sahara will blow across the Mediterranean and will settle everywhere. Even the inside of your closed car will be dusty. The sky will become several shades lighter and sometimes it can irritate the eyes. This is not a dust storm like on TV but every surface in your home becomes dusty. These conditions normally last about 24 to 48 hours. It isn’t bad enough to disrupt your life but it will certainly force you to wipe down every surface in the house.
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