Climate and average weather in Ar Ruţbah

In Ar Ruţbah, the summers are sweltering, dry, and clear and the winters are cool and mostly clear.

Best: late February to early May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Ar Ruţbah typically varies from 3°C to 38°C, and is rarely below -2°C or above 42°C. August is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Ar Ruţbah for warm-weather activities are from late February to early May and mid October to late November.

Hottest
Aug
38°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Jan
16 mm
Driest
Jul
0 mm
Rain / yr
94 mm
20 wet days
Daylight
9.8–14.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
620 m
33.0°N
Clearest
Jul
2% cloud

Ar Ruţbah is city.

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

Ar Ruţbah 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 late February to early May.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 4.4 months, from May 21 to September 30, with daily high temperatures above 32°C. The hottest month of the year in Ar Ruţbah is August, with an average high of 38°C and low of 24°C.

The cool season lasts 3.2 months, from November 25 to February 28, with daily high temperatures below 18°C. The coldest month of the year in Ar Ruţbah is January, with an average low of 3°C and high of 13°C.

Days typically run about 12°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 14°C) in August.

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan133
Feb154
Mar208
Apr2613
May3118
Jun3622
Jul3824
Aug3824
Sep3521
Oct2916
Nov208
Dec154

How hot and cold Ar Ruţbah 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, Ar Ruţbah feels like about 39°C (around July 27). About 135 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in July.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -1°C (around January 17), with roughly 44 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in January.

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan1313-13
Feb151514
Mar202058
Apr25261313
May31311818
Jun36362222
Jul38382424
Aug38382424
Sep35352121
Oct29291616
Nov202078
Dec141514

Average hourly temperature in Ar Ruţbah

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 August afternoons, near 38°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

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

Ar Ruţbah 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
Jan13° / 163.810.14.3
Feb15° / 153.310.85.6
Mar20° / 15311.77.7
Apr26° / 13°92.312.88.4
May31° / 18°40.913.75.7
Jun36° / 22°0014.13.0
Jul38° / 24°00141.3
Aug38° / 24°0013.21.3
Sep35° / 21°00.112.23.7
Oct29° / 16°71.411.27.3
Nov20° / 162.710.37.8
Dec15° / 122.89.95.3

Chance of rain

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

Ar Ruţbah gets about 94 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 6.5 months, from around Oct 21 to May 6, peaking in January at about 13% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 12.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 16 mm over about 4 wet days; July is the driest, with 0 mm.

0%10%20%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainJan 26 · 13%Jun 12 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan124
Feb123
Mar103
Apr72
May31
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct51
Nov93
Dec93

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Ar Ruţbah collects about 94 mm of rain across 20 wet days — roughly 8 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 16 mm, while July is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 50% of the year’s total.

025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec161515940071612
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan164
Feb153
Mar153
Apr92
May41
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct71
Nov163
Dec123

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Ar Ruţbah, 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 5.3 months, ending around October 21. 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 22 and lasts for 6.7 months, ending around May 14. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 31% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 22 · 100%Dec 11 · 68%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7228
Feb7426
Mar7822
Apr8020
May8614
Jun991
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep991
Oct8812
Nov7723
Dec6931

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 13, brings about 14 h 12 min of light; the shortest, around December 13, only 9 h 48 min — a swing of roughly 4 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan10.17:275:29
Feb10.87:105:57
Mar11.76:366:21
Apr12.85:556:44
May13.75:247:06
Jun14.15:147:24
Jul14.05:257:24
Aug13.25:467:00
Sep12.26:076:19
Oct11.26:295:39
Nov10.36:565:12
Dec9.97:205:10

Sunny days

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

Ar Ruţbah averages about 23 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 16 and 30 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.0 months, from around May 17 to Oct 16. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 30 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is December, down near 17 sunny days — about 44% fewer than the July peak.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 1030 daysDec 1116 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan17Bright
Feb16Bright
Mar18Bright
Apr19Bright
May23Bright
Jun29Brilliant
Jul31Brilliant
Aug31Brilliant
Sep29Brilliant
Oct24Brilliant
Nov19Bright
Dec17Bright

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 Ar Ruţbah, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in May, 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
Apr991
May991
Jun1000
Jul991
Aug982
Sep991
Oct964
Nov982
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 Ar Ruţbah is typically light breeze, near 15 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.7 months, from around Jan 22 to Aug 13. The windiest month is July, averaging about 17 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Aug 14 to Jan 21, with November the calmest month at about 12 km/h.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmercalmlight breezebreezyJul 8 · 18 km/hNov 8 · 12 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan15light breeze
Feb16light breeze
Mar16light breeze
Apr16light breeze
May16light breeze
Jun17light breeze
Jul17light breeze
Aug15light breeze
Sep13light breeze
Oct12light breeze
Nov12light breeze
Dec14light breeze

Hazard calendar for Ar Ruţbah

In seasonPeak

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

Ar Ruţbah sees seasonal dust haze (March–September), heaviest in May.

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

Best time to visit Ar Ruţbah

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid March, Ar Ruţbah 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 times of year to visit Ar Ruţbah for general outdoor tourist activities run from early March to early May and again from mid October to late November, with a peak score in the second week of April.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationApr 9 · 8.7

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
Jan4.3fair
Feb5.6good
Mar7.7ideal
Apr8.3ideal
May5.7good
Jun3.0poor
Jul1.4poor
Aug1.3poor
Sep3.7fair
Oct7.2good
Nov7.7ideal
Dec5.3fair

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 Ar Ruţbah for hot-weather activities run from early April to mid June and again from mid September to late October, with a peak score in the second week of October.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 12 · 8.9

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 Ar Ruţbah, 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 August (highs near 38°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 13°C), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In August, Ar Ruţbah sees daytime highs around 38°C and nights near 24°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Ar Ruţbah 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 Ar Ruţbah peaks around June 18 at about 11 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near January 12 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 highExtremeVery highHighModerateJun 18UV 11Jan 12UV 3
UV index (midday)Level
Jan3Moderate
Feb4Moderate
Mar6High
Apr6High
May9Very high
Jun11Extreme
Jul10Very high
Aug10Very high
Sep8Very high
Oct6High
Nov4Moderate
Dec3Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Ar Ruţbah

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 8.5 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)
Jan10
Feb40
Mar5.50
Apr60
May85
Jun8.56
Jul8.55.5
Aug85.5
Sep74.5
Oct5.50
Nov40
Dec20

Air quality in Ar Ruţbah 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 Ar Ruţbah is worst in May — around 71 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 2.0× the cleanest month (November, 35 µg/m³).

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecPoorUnhealthyPoorMay 1770 µg/m³Nov 2036 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan42Poor
Feb45Poor
Mar63Unhealthy
Apr62Unhealthy
May71Unhealthy
Jun62Unhealthy
Jul60Unhealthy
Aug55Poor
Sep51Poor
Oct52Poor
Nov35Poor
Dec40Poor
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayReliably frost-free (≥90%)

Ar Ruţbah is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about February 14 to December 8 (298 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeFeb 1490%Dec 890%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan8231
Feb9115
Mar990
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov982
Dec8831

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. Ar Ruţbah banks about 3,754 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb10
Mar119
Apr272
May449
Jun561
Jul652
Aug654
Sep534
Oct376
Nov123
Dec4

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.

Ar Ruţbah receives about 5.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.0 and 8.2 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around Mar 19 to Sep 27. The brightest month is June, averaging about 8.1 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 3.1 kWh/m² — roughly 62% less than the June peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 268.2 kWhDec 203.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan3.4Moderate
Feb4.4Bright
Mar5.7Bright
Apr6.9Intense
May7.7Intense
Jun8.2Intense
Jul8.1Intense
Aug7.5Intense
Sep6.4Intense
Oct4.9Bright
Nov3.7Moderate
Dec3.0Moderate

Where is Ar Ruţbah?

Ar Ruţbah sits at 33.0°N, 40.3°E, 620 m above sea level, in Iraq. The nearest listed city is Rukban, 150 km away.

RukbanAl Qā’imĀlbū KamālHajīnSubaykhānTuraifŢurayf‘Anah

Topography around Ar Ruţbah

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Ar Ruţbah has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 35 m around an average of 622 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 157 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 411 m.

The land around Ar Ruţbah is covered by bare terrain (82%) within 3 km, bare terrain (98%) within 16 km, and bare terrain (100%) within 80 km.

3 km
35 m
16 km
157 m
80 km
411 m
artificial surfacesbare terrain
Nearby: Rukban 150 km · Al Qā’im 164 km · Ālbū Kamāl 168 km · Hajīn 191 km · Subaykhān 204 km · Turaif 215 km · Ţurayf 215 km · ‘Anah 216 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 Ar Ruţbah (33.0372°, 40.2859°, elevation 620 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).