Gilan: A Paradise

The province of Gilan is 13,952 km2 (5,387 sq mi) in the north of Iran. lies just west of the province of Mazandaran, along the Caspian Sea. The center of the province is the city of Rasht. Other towns in the province include Astara, Astaneh-e Ashrafiyyeh, Rudsar, LangRud, Souma’eh Sara, Talesh, Fuman, Masouleh, and Lahijan. The main harbor port of the province is Bandar-e Anzali (previously Bandar-e Pahlavi).

Archaeological excavations reveal the antiquity of the province to date back to prior to the last Ice Age. In the 6th century BCE, the inhabitants of Gilan allied with Cyrus the Great and overthrew the Medes. The province then passed from the control of one dynasty to the next.

Gilan has a humid temperate climate with plenty of annual rainfall. The Alborz range provides further diversity to the land in addition to the Caspian coasts. Large parts of the province are mountainous, green and forested. The coastal plain along the Caspian Sea is similar to that of Mazandaran, mainly used for rice paddies.

The majority of the population speaks Gilaki, a Persian dialect, as their first language while many children, particularly in the cities, tend to use standard Persian amongst themselves.

This province is a popular destination for domestic tourists. The coast of Caspian Sea is one of the major holiday retreat; and of course the small village of Masouleh in the hills south-east of Rasht, where the roof of one house is the courtyard of the next house above, has a very magnetic attraction.
Gilan has a strong culinary tradition, from which several dishes have come to be adopted across Iran, like Mirza Ghasemi. This richness derives in part from the climate, which allows for a wide variety of fruit, vegetables and nuts grown in the province. Seafood is particularly a strong component of Gilani (and Mazandarani) cuisine. Iranian Caviar from this region is a delicacy that has been widely prized and served on millions of tables all over the world.

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Tehran Climate
Tehran features a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSk) with continental climate characteristics and a Mediterranean climate precipitation pattern. Tehran’s climate is largely defined by its geographic location, with the towering Alborz Mountains to its north and the central desert to the south. It can be generally described as mild in the spring and autumn, hot and dry in the summer, and cold and wet in the winter.
Because the city is large with significant differences in elevation among various districts, the weather is often cooler in the hilly north than in the flat southern part of Tehran. For instance, the 17.3 km (10.7 mi) Valiasr Street runs from Tehran’s railway station at 1,117 m (3,665 ft) elevation above sea level in the south of the city to the Tajrish Square, and at 1,612 m (5,289 ft) elevation above sea level in the north.[citation needed] However, the elevation can even rise up to 1,900 m (6,200 ft) at the end of the Velenjak Street in the north of Tehran.

Summer is long, hot and dry with little rain, but relative humidity is generally low. Average high temperatures are between 35 and 40 °C (95 and 104 °F), and at nights it rarely drops below 23 °C (73 °F). Most of the light annual precipitation occurs from late autumn to mid-spring, but no one month is particularly wet. The hottest month is July, with a mean minimum temperature of 26 °C (79 °F) and a mean maximum temperature of 36 °C (97 °F), and the coldest is January, with a mean minimum temperature of −1 °C (30 °F) and a mean maximum temperature of 8 °C (46 °F).

The weather of Tehran can sometimes be unpredictably harsh. The record high temperature is 43 °C (109 °F) and the record low is −17 °C (1 °F). On January 5 and 6, 2008, after years of relatively little snow, a wave of heavy snow and low temperatures covered the city in a thick layer of snow and ice, forcing the Council of Ministers to officially declare a state of emergency and close down the capital on January 6 and 7.

Tehran has seen an increase in relative humidity and annual precipitation since the beginning of the 21st century. This is most likely because of the afforestation projects, which also include expanding parks and lakes. The northern parts of Tehran are still more lush than the southern parts.

In February 2005, heavy snow covered all of the parts of the city. Snow depth was 15 cm (6 in) in south part of the city and 100 cm (39 in) in the north of city. A newspaper said it had been the worst weather for 34 years. 10,000 bulldozers and 13,000 municipal workers deployed to keep the main roads open.

On February 3, 2014, Tehran reached a heavy snowfall, specifically in the northern parts of the city, with a height of 2 meters. Within the one week successive snowfall roads were made impassable in some areas in north of Tehran along with a temperature variety of -8 °C to -16 °C.

On June 3, 2014, a severe thunderstorm with powerful microbursts created a haboob that engulfed the city in sand and dust. Five people were killed and more than 57 injured. This disaster also knocked numerous trees and power lines down. It struck between 5 and 6 PM, plummteing temperatures from 33 °C to 19 °C in just an hour. The dramatic temperature drop was accompanied by wind gusts reaching nearly 118 km/h.

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