The chaos in Istanbul from heavy snowfall this week has finally started to ease, but the forecast for the rest of Turkey indicates that adverse weather is here to stay.

Authorities issued alerts on Wednesday for 33 cities, including Istanbul, where people have been stranded on the roads since Monday amid precipitation and blizzards. Bad weather also led to the closure of several roads across the country, including a southern highway where a large number of people were trapped in a snowstorm last week.

A cold front combined with heavy snowfall will bear down on northern, eastern and southern parts of Turkey, from Kocaeli in the northwest to Muş in the east. Turkish State Meteorological Services (TSMS) also warned about the risk of avalanches in places at higher altitudes in the eastern Black Sea region and eastern Anatolia.

In the south, the Tarsus-Adana-Gaziantep (TAG) highway, which connects the provinces of Mersin, Adana and Gaziantep, was partially closed on Wednesday due to heavy snowfall. The General Directorate of Highways (KGM) announced that vehicles were not allowed on a route stretching from Osmaniye province to Gaziantep along the highway.

The traffic was considerably slowed on a road connecting northwestern province Bursa to the capital Ankara due to adverse weather. In the central province of Aksaray, which is a central transportation hub connecting Turkey’s west to inner Anatolia and east, several roads, including one between the province and Ankara, were closed to trucks due to snowfall and blizzards. In the central province of Sivas, a road linking it to Malatya was closed to traffic amid snowfall.

Authorities urge drivers to follow the online updates on websites and social media accounts of governorates and the KGM about the state of roads.

Elsewhere, the governorate of the central province of Konya on Wednesday advised residents not to go out except for emergencies as dense snowfall and blizzards took hold. Konya Governor Vahdettin Özkan said in a statement on Wednesday that crews were deployed across the province to keep the roads clear of snow.

Bad weather had battered most of Turkey, including otherwise year-round warm Antalya where the first snowfall in three decades was reported on Tuesday.

But Istanbul, the country’s most crowded city, is among the worst affected. Between Monday and Tuesday, vehicles were stranded on highways across the city’s European side and some were still in their vehicles, awaiting the reopening of snowed-in parts of the highway near the Hadımköy district in the early hours of Wednesday. Authorities have announced that all major roads were open to traffic late Tuesday after closures due to stranded drivers. Traffic gradually resumed in the city while vehicles abandoned on Tuesday by frustrated drivers still block parts of highways.

"We don’t know how long we will remain here," Yusuf Özcan, a truck driver stranded in Hadımköy, told Anadolu Agency (AA) early Wednesday. "I have been stuck near the tollbooth section for some six hours and drove (to the toll-free road) to find an alternative road, but this place is closed too. People abandoned their cars, and they block the way. I think we will be here for a few more days," he lamented.

Murat Aydın said he drove from work around 3 p.m on Monday and has been stranded for 33 hours in Hadımköy. "There is no food or water and my car’s fuel is running out. I stopped the engine. I phoned the municipality, and they told us the road would be reopened soon, but it has been hours," he said.

Mehmet Murat Parlak, another driver who spent more than one day in the same location, said the opposite lane was opened, but their lane was still full of snow. "We are like prisoners here and afraid of freezing to death," he complained. Emrah Erdemir was among the few lucky drivers who were able to resume his journey after being stuck for hours. "It was very bad. I have never seen anything like this," the truck driver said.

Tevfik Kahveci said he was stranded on the road since 4 p.m. on Monday, and he could not drive though his home was only 5 kilometers (3 miles) away. "We are out of food and fuel. Clearing work started just one hour ago and nobody came here to help us before," he complained.