Climate and average weather in Al Madīnah

In Al Madīnah, the summers are sweltering, dry, and clear and the winters are mild and mostly clear.

Best: early November to late March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Al Madīnah typically varies from 9°C to 47°C, and is rarely below 5°C or above 50°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Al Madīnah for warm-weather activities is from early November to late March.

Hottest
Jul
47°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Jan
32 mm
Driest
Jul
0 mm
Rain / yr
158 mm
23 wet days
Daylight
10.0–14.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
6 m
31.0°N
Clearest
Jul
2% cloud

Al Madīnah 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 early November to late March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 4.6 months, from May 15 to October 1, with daily high temperatures above 40°C. The hottest month of the year in Al Madīnah is July, with an average high of 47°C and low of 32°C.

The cool season lasts 3.1 months, from November 24 to February 26, with daily high temperatures below 24°C. The coldest month of the year in Al Madīnah is January, with an average low of 9°C and high of 19°C.

Days typically run about 13°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 15°C) in September.

10°20°30°40°50°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan199
Feb2211
Mar2715
Apr3420
May4026
Jun4531
Jul4732
Aug4732
Sep4328
Oct3622
Nov2715
Dec2010

How hot and cold Al Madīnah 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, Al Madīnah feels like about 47°C (around July 22). About 205 days a year carry some heat stress, and 149 of them tip into dangerous heat (feels-like above 39°C), peaking in July.

10°20°30°40°50°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan191979
Feb22221011
Mar27271515
Apr34342020
May40402626
Jun45453131
Jul47473232
Aug47473232
Sep43432828
Oct36362222
Nov26271515
Dec2020910

Average hourly temperature in Al Madīnah

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 47°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

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

Al Madīnah weather by month

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

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan19° / 324.810.27.2
Feb22° / 11°20310.98.2
Mar27° / 15°21311.87.8
Apr34° / 20°122.512.74.0
May40° / 26°40.913.50.5
Jun45° / 31°00.1140.0
Jul47° / 32°0013.80.0
Aug47° / 32°0013.10.0
Sep43° / 28°00.112.20.0
Oct36° / 22°80.911.22.5
Nov27° / 15°323.510.47.6
Dec20° / 10°294.4107.6

Chance of rain

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

Al Madīnah gets about 158 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is mostly dry, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.2 months, from around Oct 28 to May 4, peaking in January at about 16% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around May 29.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 32 mm over about 5 wet days; July is the driest, with 0 mm.

0%10%20%30%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainJan 14 · 16%May 29 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan155
Feb103
Mar103
Apr83
May31
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct31
Nov124
Dec144

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Al Madīnah collects about 158 mm of rain across 23 wet days — roughly 13 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 32 mm, while July is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 59% of the year’s total.

02550JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec32202112400083229
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan325
Feb203
Mar213
Apr123
May41
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct81
Nov324
Dec294

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Al Madīnah, 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 19 and lasts for 5.2 months, ending around October 23. 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 24 and lasts for 6.8 months, ending around May 18. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 28% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 16 · 100%Jan 5 · 70%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7228
Feb7822
Mar7822
Apr7723
May8416
Jun982
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep991
Oct9010
Nov7525
Dec7228

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 hours of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 10 hours — a swing of roughly 4 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan10.26:545:06
Feb10.96:395:32
Mar11.86:085:54
Apr12.75:296:14
May13.55:006:34
Jun14.04:516:51
Jul13.85:026:51
Aug13.15:216:29
Sep12.25:405:51
Oct11.25:595:13
Nov10.46:244:48
Dec10.06:474:47

Sunny days

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

Al Madīnah averages about 23 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 17 and 30 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.0 months, from around May 23 to Oct 22. The sunniest month is June, with roughly 29 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is January, down near 18 sunny days — about 39% fewer than the June peak.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJun 2830 daysJan 117 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan18Bright
Feb19Bright
Mar20Bright
Apr19Bright
May22Bright
Jun29Brilliant
Jul31Brilliant
Aug31Brilliant
Sep30Brilliant
Oct26Brilliant
Nov19Bright
Dec18Bright

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 Al Madīnah, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in November, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 10% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 6 · 100%Nov 2 · 84%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan95500
Feb96310
Mar93510
Apr88930
May94410
Jun99100
Jul97210
Aug94321
Sep94222
Oct81973
Nov751591
Dec89920

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 Al Madīnah is typically light breeze, near 14 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 4.1 months, from around May 17 to Sep 19. The windiest month is June, averaging about 18 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Sep 20 to May 16, with November the calmest month at about 11 km/h.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezebreezyJun 30 · 19 km/hNov 23 · 11 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan11calm
Feb12light breeze
Mar13light breeze
Apr13light breeze
May14light breeze
Jun18light breeze
Jul18light breeze
Aug16light breeze
Sep14light breeze
Oct11calm
Nov11calm
Dec11calm

Hazard calendar for Al Madīnah

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Al Madīnah sees seasonal dust haze (February–August), heaviest in May.

Dust
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Al Madīnah

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid November, Al Madīnah is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

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 time of year to visit Al Madīnah for general outdoor tourist activities is from early November to late March, with a peak score in the last week of February.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 28 · 8.6

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
Jan7.3good
Feb8.2ideal
Mar7.7ideal
Apr4.0fair
May0.5poor
Jun0.0poor
Jul0.0poor
Aug0.0poor
Sep0.0poor
Oct2.5poor
Nov7.5ideal
Dec7.6ideal

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Al Madīnah for hot-weather activities run from late February to late April and again from late October to late November, with a peak score in the first week of November.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationNov 6 · 8.4

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 Al Madīnah, 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 47°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 19°C), pack a light layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Al Madīnah sees daytime highs around 47°C and nights near 32°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Al Madīnah 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 Al Madīnah peaks around June 22 at about 10 (very high) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 22 at about 3 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 11 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateHighVery highHighModerateJun 22UV 10Dec 22UV 3
UV index (midday)Level
Jan3Moderate
Feb4Moderate
Mar5Moderate
Apr6High
May7High
Jun10Very high
Jul10Very high
Aug9Very high
Sep7High
Oct6High
Nov4Moderate
Dec3Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Al Madīnah

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 June the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 5.5 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)
Jan1.50
Feb3.50
Mar50
Apr5.50
May73
Jun85.5
Jul85.5
Aug7.54.5
Sep6.53
Oct5.51
Nov40
Dec00

Air quality in Al Madīnah 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 Al Madīnah is worst in April — around 78 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyApr 1178 µg/m³Jul 1156 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan74Unhealthy
Feb69Unhealthy
Mar77Unhealthy
Apr78Unhealthy
May73Unhealthy
Jun56Unhealthy
Jul56Unhealthy
Aug59Unhealthy
Sep62Unhealthy
Oct70Unhealthy
Nov67Unhealthy
Dec74Unhealthy
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Al Madīnah is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

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. Al Madīnah banks about 6,372 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan115
Feb173
Mar341
Apr509
May723
Jun834
Jul919
Aug909
Sep766
Oct596
Nov324
Dec165

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.

Al Madīnah receives about 5.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.2 and 7.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.5 months, from around Mar 18 to Sep 30. The brightest month is June, averaging about 7.8 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 3.2 kWh/m² — roughly 59% less than the June peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 167.8 kWhDec 173.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan3.4Moderate
Feb4.5Bright
Mar5.7Bright
Apr6.7Intense
May7.4Intense
Jun7.8Intense
Jul7.6Intense
Aug7.3Intense
Sep6.3Intense
Oct5.0Bright
Nov3.7Moderate
Dec3.2Moderate

Where is Al Madīnah?

Al Madīnah sits at 31.0°N, 47.3°E, 6 m above sea level, in Iraq. The nearest listed city is Al Qurnah, 17 km away.

Qal‘at ŞāliḩAl HārithahBasrahAl Başrah al QadīmahAz ZubayrAbū al-Kahṣīb

Topography around Al Madīnah

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Al Madīnah has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 11 m around an average of 2 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 11 m; within 80 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 83 m.

The land around Al Madīnah is covered by cropland (43%), artificial surfaces (22%) and bare terrain (21%) within 3 km, cropland (34%) and bare terrain (32%) within 16 km, and bare terrain (51%) and cropland (20%) within 80 km.

3 km
11 m
16 km
11 m
80 km
83 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetland
Nearby: Al Qurnah 17 km · Nāḩiyat al Fuhūd 52 km · Qal‘at Şāliḩ 63 km · Al Hārithah 63 km · Basrah 70 km · Al Başrah al Qadīmah 73 km · Az Zubayr 76 km · Abū al-Kahṣīb 82 km

Iraq travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 4
Do Not Travel
Power plugs
Type C / D / G
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 38% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$5,410
2025
Happiness
5.2 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
60%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
9.5
per 100k, 2013
Road deaths
27.3
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 406
Religion
Christian 1%

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 Al Madīnah (30.9632°, 47.27°, elevation 6 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).