January is normally the wettest month in Fethiye but the lack of rain and consistently sunny days is worrying many people. As the picture below shows the average rain fall over the past few years for fethiye has been 16 days in January. But this January has been one of the driest with only around 3 days of rain. The lack of rain is worrying many people especially the farmers who rely on the water to grow their crops. If the trend continues we could see shortages of fruit and vegetables later this year along with increasing prices.

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The average temperatures have also been higher with any snow that has fallen on the lower mountains in the area only lasting a few days. Cal Dag and Baba Dag are normally snow capped from December through to March but this year they have been mostly bare. The snow on the mountains forms a winter frozen water reservoir that feeds many of the local rivers, reservoirs and irrigation systems during the spring and summer, but the lack of snow so far this year could affect flows considerably.

So let’s all keep our fingers crossed and pray for rain to avoid a potential summer drought.