Climate and average weather in Baḥarkah

In Baḥarkah, the summers are sweltering, dry, and clear and the winters are cool and partly cloudy.

Best: late March to mid May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Baḥarkah typically varies from 3°C to 42°C, and is rarely below -3°C or above 45°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 Baḥarkah for warm-weather activities are from late March to mid May and mid October to late November.

Hottest
Jul
42°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Jan
101 mm
Driest
Aug
0 mm
Rain / yr
551 mm
62 wet days
Daylight
9.5–14.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
464 m
36.3°N
Clearest
Aug
4% cloud

Baḥarkah 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 March to mid May.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.9 months, from May 30 to September 26, with daily high temperatures above 35°C. The hottest month of the year in Baḥarkah is July, with an average high of 42°C and low of 26°C.

The cool season lasts 3.6 months, from November 26 to March 13, with daily high temperatures below 18°C. The coldest month of the year in Baḥarkah is January, with an average low of 3°C and high of 12°C.

Days typically run about 13°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 16°C) in September.

10°20°30°40°50°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan123
Feb144
Mar188
Apr2412
May3118
Jun3823
Jul4226
Aug4126
Sep3721
Oct3016
Nov209
Dec145

How hot and cold Baḥarkah 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, Baḥarkah feels like about 42°C (around July 25). About 143 days a year carry some heat stress, and 75 of them tip into dangerous heat (feels-like above 39°C), peaking in July.

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan121213
Feb141424
Mar181868
Apr24241212
May31311818
Jun38382323
Jul42422626
Aug41412526
Sep37372121
Oct30301616
Nov202099
Dec141435

Average hourly temperature in Baḥarkah

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 42°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

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

Baḥarkah 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
Jan12° / 10110.79.83.3
Feb14° / 9410.110.64.1
Mar18° / 931011.76.1
Apr24° / 12°627.712.97.4
May31° / 18°224.613.95.4
Jun38° / 23°10.414.41.5
Jul42° / 26°00.114.20.0
Aug41° / 26°00.113.40.0
Sep37° / 21°10.212.22.2
Oct30° / 16°263.111.16.2
Nov20° / 646.610.17.2
Dec14° / 878.49.64.5

Chance of rain

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

Baḥarkah gets about 551 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 6.6 months, from around Oct 25 to May 12, peaking in January at about 39% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 28.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 101 mm over about 11 wet days; August is the driest, with 0 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 31 · 39%Jul 28 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3311
Feb3610
Mar3310
Apr268
May145
Jun20
Jul00
Aug00
Sep10
Oct103
Nov227
Dec288

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Baḥarkah collects about 551 mm of rain across 62 wet days — roughly 46 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 101 mm, while August is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 52% of the year’s total.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec101949362221001266487
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan10111
Feb9410
Mar9310
Apr628
May225
Jun10
Jul00
Aug00
Sep10
Oct263
Nov647
Dec878

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Baḥarkah, 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 10 and lasts for 5.4 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 6.6 months, ending around May 9. 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 22 · 100%Jan 30 · 53%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5644
Feb5644
Mar6238
Apr6832
May8218
Jun982
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep982
Oct8218
Nov6931
Dec5941

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 15, brings about 14 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around December 14, 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)
Jan9.87:205:07
Feb10.67:005:37
Mar11.76:226:05
Apr12.95:366:32
May13.95:026:58
Jun14.44:507:18
Jul14.25:027:17
Aug13.45:266:50
Sep12.25:516:05
Oct11.16:175:21
Nov10.16:484:50
Dec9.67:144:46

Sunny days

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

Baḥarkah averages about 20 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 11 and 30 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.1 months, from around May 18 to Oct 19. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 30 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is January, down near 12 sunny days — about 59% fewer than the August peak.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantAug 830 daysJan 3011 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan13Mixed
Feb11Mixed
Mar14Mixed
Apr15Mixed
May20Bright
Jun28Brilliant
Jul30Brilliant
Aug31Brilliant
Sep29Brilliant
Oct22Bright
Nov16Bright
Dec13Mixed

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 Baḥarkah, 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccomfortabledry
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr937
May919
Jun991
Jul982
Aug982
Sep1000
Oct964
Nov973
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.

Wind in Baḥarkah is steady company: average speeds sit near 8 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeJun 12 · 9 km/hNov 22 · 7 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan8calm
Feb8calm
Mar8calm
Apr9calm
May9calm
Jun9calm
Jul9calm
Aug9calm
Sep8calm
Oct8calm
Nov7calm
Dec7calm

Hazard calendar for Baḥarkah

In seasonPeak

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

Baḥarkah's rainy season runs November–April, when most of the year's rain falls.

Baḥarkah sees seasonal dust haze (April–May), heaviest in May.

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

Best time to visit Baḥarkah

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late March, Baḥarkah 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 Baḥarkah for general outdoor tourist activities run from late March to mid May and again from mid October to late November, with a peak score in the first week of November.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationNov 4 · 7.7

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
Jan3.3poor
Feb4.1fair
Mar6.1good
Apr7.3good
May5.3fair
Jun1.5poor
Jul0.0poor
Aug0.0poor
Sep2.2poor
Oct6.2good
Nov7.1good
Dec4.5fair

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 14 · 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 Baḥarkah, 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 42°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 12°C), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Baḥarkah sees daytime highs around 42°C and nights near 26°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Baḥarkah 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 Baḥarkah peaks around June 16 at about 10 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near January 12 at about 2 (moderate).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateHighVery highVery highModerateJun 16UV 10Jan 12UV 2
UV index (midday)Level
Jan2Moderate
Feb3Moderate
Mar4Moderate
Apr6High
May8Very high
Jun10Extreme
Jul8Very high
Aug10Very high
Sep8Very high
Oct5Moderate
Nov3Moderate
Dec3Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Baḥarkah

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)
Jan00
Feb0.50
Mar40
Apr60
May84.5
Jun8.56
Jul85
Aug85
Sep73.5
Oct4.50
Nov20
Dec00

Air quality in Baḥarkah 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 Baḥarkah is worst in March — around 49 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecPoorMar 2349 µg/m³Dec 1736 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan37Poor
Feb41Poor
Mar49Poor
Apr49Poor
May47Poor
Jun42Poor
Jul38Poor
Aug38Poor
Sep40Poor
Oct42Poor
Nov37Poor
Dec36Poor
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

Baḥarkah is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about February 21 to December 12 (295 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeFeb 2190%Dec 1290%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan7531
Feb8622
Mar980
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov990
Dec8720

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. Baḥarkah banks about 3,980 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb4
Mar95
Apr245
May442
Jun610
Jul741
Aug726
Sep567
Oct400
Nov145
Dec6

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.

Baḥarkah receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.3 and 8.0 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around Mar 28 to Sep 30. The brightest month is June, averaging about 7.9 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 2.4 kWh/m² — roughly 70% less than the June peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 278.0 kWhDec 182.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan2.6Moderate
Feb3.5Moderate
Mar4.8Bright
Apr6.1Intense
May7.2Intense
Jun8.0Intense
Jul7.9Intense
Aug7.3Intense
Sep6.1Intense
Oct4.4Bright
Nov3.1Moderate
Dec2.4Moderate

Where is Baḥarkah?

Baḥarkah sits at 36.3°N, 44.0°E, 464 m above sea level, in Iraq. The nearest listed city is Erbil, 14 km away.

Topography around Baḥarkah

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Baḥarkah has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 95 m around an average of 475 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 859 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,498 m.

The land around Baḥarkah is covered by cropland (60%) and artificial surfaces (21%) within 3 km, cropland (54%) and grassland (27%) within 16 km, and grassland (50%) and cropland (40%) within 80 km.

3 km
95 m
16 km
859 m
80 km
2,498 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Erbil 14 km · Khasnahzān 16 km · Pīrmām 16 km · Shaqlāwah 28 km · Ḩarir 39 km · Khalīfān 46 km · 'Ākra 48 km · ‘Aqrah 51 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 Baḥarkah (36.3156°, 44.0353°, elevation 464 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).