Climate
As expected, Mediterranean Turkey enjoys the typical Mediterranean climate: the temperature can go above 40°C in rainless—and even cloudless—summers, while the rest of the year is quite rainy, although winter lows rarely go below +5°C and snowfall is virtually unknown in the region except the tops of the quite high mountains close to the coastal strip, of course. The season with the highest amount of rainfall is winter more or less limited to late October through early April in this region and can be accompanied by strong winds, to the point of storms, in the localities close to the shore, especially around Antalya.
Water temperature of the Mediterranean Sea is around 28°C during summer, i.e. May through October.
Inland Lakes District has an altogether different continental climate than the rest of the region, and the winters can be severe and quite snowy there.
Understand
Mediterranean coast of Turkey is mostly a narrow strip of land squeezed in between pine-covered Taurus Mountains Toros and the Mediterranean Sea. Having been spared from pollution thanks to the lack of heavy industry, lying under one of the sunniest skies of Europe, together with its rich art and history, make the region the top tourism destination in the country.
History
Home to a number of ancient civilizations, namely Lycia, Pamphylia, and Cilicia west to east, Mediterranean Turkey was captured by the Romans about a century before the birth of Christ. After a brief occupation by the Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem, as evidenced by a number of Crusader-built or -expanded citadels mainly on the eastern sections of the region, and a number of Crusader-backed Armenian kingdoms, Turkic Seljuqs seized the region. It was during this era when the ancestors of most of the region's locals poured in from Central Asia as nomadic tribes. Some still keep the tradition to this day, wintering on the warm coast and heading for heights of Taurus Mountains or plateaus of Central Anatolia more inland to the north when summer approaches with their goat and camel caravans. Seljuqs were later replaced by Ottomans in around 1400s.