Climate and average weather in Mahābād

In Mahābād, the summers are sweltering, dry, and clear and the winters are cold, snowy, and partly cloudy.

Best: mid September to late October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Mahābād typically varies from -5°C to 33°C, and is rarely below -14°C or above 38°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Mahābād for warm-weather activities are from mid May to early June and mid September to late October.

Hottest
Jul
33°
Coldest
Jan
-5°
Wettest
Mar
57 mm
Driest
Aug
1 mm
Rain / yr
340 mm
64 wet days
Daylight
9.5–14.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,324 m
36.8°N
Clearest
Sep
11% cloud

Mahābād is city in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran.

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Mahābād weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around mid September to late October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Mahābād, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 4.0 months, from May 28 to September 26, with daily high temperatures above 26°C. The hottest month of the year in Mahābād is July, with an average high of 33°C and low of 19°C.

The cool season lasts 3.1 months, from November 29 to March 2, with daily high temperatures below 9°C. The coldest month of the year in Mahābād is January, with an average low of -5°C and high of 4°C.

Days typically run about 12°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 16°C) in September.

-10°10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan4-5
Feb6-3
Mar121
Apr176
May2411
Jun3016
Jul3319
Aug3318
Sep2913
Oct228
Nov132
Dec6-3

How hot and cold Mahābād really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Mahābād feels like about 34°C (around July 26). About 63 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in July.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -10°C (around January 22), with roughly 134 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in January.

-10°10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan44-9-5
Feb66-7-3
Mar1212-21
Apr171746
May23241011
Jun30301516
Jul33331919
Aug33331818
Sep29291313
Oct222278
Nov131302
Dec66-6-3

Average hourly temperature in Mahābād

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on July afternoons, near 33°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near -5°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Mahābād weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysSnow daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan / -5°427.26.59.80.0
Feb / -3°488610.60.6
Mar12° / 579.43.111.73.1
Apr17° / 509.80.412.95.7
May24° / 11°358.1013.97.4
Jun30° / 16°72.2014.56.5
Jul33° / 19°30.9014.34.5
Aug33° / 18°10.3013.44.5
Sep29° / 13°30.9012.27.4
Oct22° / 184.30.1118.0
Nov13° / 386.51103.9
Dec / -3°416.74.49.50.6

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Mahābād gets about 340 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 7.2 months, from around Oct 23 to May 28, peaking in April at about 34% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 8.

March is the wettest month by volume, with 57 mm over about 9 wet days; August is the driest, with 1 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetApr 5 · 34%Aug 8 · 1%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan237
Feb288
Mar319
Apr3310
May258
Jun82
Jul31
Aug10
Sep31
Oct134
Nov227
Dec227

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Mahābād collects about 340 mm of rain across 64 wet days — roughly 28 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. March is the wettest month with 57 mm, while August is the driest at just 1 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 45% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec42485750357313183841
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan4277
Feb4886
Mar5793
Apr50100
May3580
Jun720
Jul310
Aug100
Sep310
Oct1840
Nov3871
Dec4174

Snow in Mahābād

Average snowy days through the year, the snow-season span, and estimated snowfall — for ski trips and the perennial 'will there be snow at Christmas?' question.

Mahābād averages about 22 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Nov 7 to Apr 13 — about 5.2 months.

January is snowiest, with roughly 6 days of snow and an estimated 32 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 110 cm of snow.

02468JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonJan 9
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan732
Feb631
Mar315
Apr02
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct00
Nov16
Dec425

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Mahābād, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around May 15 and lasts for 5.2 months, ending around October 20. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 100% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 21 and lasts for 6.8 months, ending around May 14. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 44% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 25 · 100%Jan 8 · 55%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5644
Feb5941
Mar5941
Apr6436
May7723
Jun964
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep973
Oct8020
Nov6337
Dec5743

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 10, brings about 14 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 9 h 30 min — a swing of roughly 5 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan9.87:445:29
Feb10.67:246:00
Mar11.76:456:28
Apr12.95:596:56
May13.95:257:22
Jun14.55:127:42
Jul14.35:247:41
Aug13.45:497:14
Sep12.26:156:28
Oct11.06:415:43
Nov10.07:125:12
Dec9.57:385:08

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Mahābād averages about 19 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 11 and 29 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.9 months, from around May 24 to Oct 20. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 28 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is December, down near 12 sunny days — about 57% fewer than the September peak.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantSep 929 daysDec 1111 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan12Mixed
Feb11Mixed
Mar13Mixed
Apr13Mixed
May17Bright
Jun26Brilliant
Jul29Brilliant
Aug29Brilliant
Sep28Brilliant
Oct20Bright
Nov14Mixed
Dec12Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Mahābād, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in June, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 0% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdry
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun991
Jul964
Aug982
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Across the year, average wind speed in Mahābād is typically calm, near 9 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around Feb 5 to Jul 30. The windiest month is April, averaging about 11 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jul 31 to Feb 4, with December the calmest month at about 8 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeApr 5 · 11 km/hDec 3 · 8 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan8calm
Feb9calm
Mar10calm
Apr11calm
May10calm
Jun10calm
Jul9calm
Aug9calm
Sep8calm
Oct8calm
Nov8calm
Dec8calm

Best time to visit Mahābād

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Mahābād throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around mid October, Mahābād is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Mahābād for general outdoor tourist activities run from mid May to early June and again from mid September to late October, with a peak score in the first week of October.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 3 · 8.9

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan0.0poor
Feb0.6poor
Mar3.1poor
Apr5.7good
May7.3good
Jun6.5good
Jul4.5fair
Aug4.5fair
Sep7.4good
Oct7.9ideal
Nov3.9fair
Dec0.7poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Mahābād for hot-weather activities is from late May to early October, with a peak score in the third week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 15 · 9.2

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Mahābād, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around July (highs near 33°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 4°C), pack a warm layer and a heavy coat.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Mahābād sees daytime highs around 33°C and nights near 19°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Mahābād by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Mahābād peaks around July 12 at about 11 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near January 10 at about 3 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 10 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateHighVery highExtremeVery highModerateJul 12UV 11Jan 10UV 3
UV index (midday)Level
Jan3Moderate
Feb4Moderate
Mar4Moderate
Apr6High
May9Very high
Jun11Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug10Extreme
Sep8Very high
Oct5High
Nov4Moderate
Dec3Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Mahābād

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in July the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan00
Feb3.50
Mar4.50
Apr6.51.5
May85
Jun96
Jul8.56
Aug8.56
Sep74
Oct50
Nov2.50
Dec00

Air quality in Mahābād by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Mahābād is worst in May — around 35 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateMay 1035 µg/m³Dec 1723 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan23Moderate
Feb26Moderate
Mar32Moderate
Apr34Moderate
May35Moderate
Jun27Moderate
Jul25Moderate
Aug23Moderate
Sep24Moderate
Oct27Moderate
Nov23Moderate
Dec23Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayTypical season (≥50%)

The growing season in Mahābād typically lasts about 264 days, from around March 8 to November 26 — the span where a frost-free day is more likely than not. It is reliably frost-free from April 5 to November 5.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgrowing seasonMar 850%Apr 590%Nov 590%Nov 2650%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1631
Feb2528
Mar6131
Apr963
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct990
Nov7224
Dec2831

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Mahābād banks about 2,131 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

05001,0001,5002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar0
Apr54
May220
Jun382
Jul499
Aug487
Sep334
Oct154
Nov3
Dec0

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Mahābād receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.5 and 7.9 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around Mar 24 to Sep 29. The brightest month is June, averaging about 7.8 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 2.5 kWh/m² — roughly 67% less than the June peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 207.9 kWhDec 142.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan2.9Moderate
Feb3.9Moderate
Mar5.0Bright
Apr6.1Intense
May7.1Intense
Jun7.9Intense
Jul7.7Intense
Aug7.2Intense
Sep6.0Intense
Oct4.4Bright
Nov3.1Moderate
Dec2.5Moderate

Where is Mahābād?

Mahābād sits at 36.8°N, 45.7°E, 1,324 m above sea level, in Iran. The nearest listed city is Naqadeh, 37 km away.

Topography around Mahābād

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Mahābād.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Mahābād has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 366 m around an average of 1,401 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,156 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 3,015 m.

The land around Mahābād is covered by grassland (46%) and artificial surfaces (36%) within 3 km, grassland (75%) within 16 km, and grassland (57%) and cropland (28%) within 80 km.

3 km
366 m
16 km
1,156 m
80 km
3,015 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Naqadeh 37 km · Mīāndoāb 41 km · Būkān 51 km · Piranshahr 52 km · Malekān 54 km · Oshnavīyeh 63 km · Bonāb 71 km · Sardasht 71 km

Iran travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 4
Do Not Travel
Power plugs
Type C / F
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 352% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$3,924
2025
Happiness
5.2 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
94%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
2.4
per 100k, 2014
Road deaths
21.5
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Low
EF EPI 492
Religion
Muslim 99%Christian 1%Baha'i 0%agnostic 0%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Mahābād (36.7631°, 45.7222°, elevation 1,324 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).