Climate and average weather in Dihok

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

Best: late March to mid May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Dihok typically varies from 2°C to 40°C, and is rarely below -3°C or above 44°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 Dihok for warm-weather activities are from late March to mid May and mid October to late November.

Hottest
Jul
40°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Jan
91 mm
Driest
Aug
0 mm
Rain / yr
501 mm
62 wet days
Daylight
9.5–14.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
510 m
36.9°N
Clearest
Aug
4% cloud

Dihok is City in Kurdistan Region, Iraq.

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

Dihok 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 Dihok, 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 24, with daily high temperatures above 33°C. The hottest month of the year in Dihok is July, with an average high of 40°C and low of 25°C.

The cool season lasts 3.6 months, from November 25 to March 13, with daily high temperatures below 17°C. The coldest month of the year in Dihok is January, with an average low of 2°C and high of 11°C.

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

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan112
Feb133
Mar177
Apr2311
May3016
Jun3721
Jul4025
Aug4024
Sep3520
Oct2815
Nov199
Dec134

How hot and cold Dihok 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, Dihok feels like about 41°C (around July 24). About 129 days a year carry some heat stress, and 56 of them tip into dangerous heat (feels-like above 39°C), peaking in July.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -0°C (around January 22), with roughly 18 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)
Jan111102
Feb131313
Mar171757
Apr23231111
May30301616
Jun37372121
Jul40402525
Aug40402424
Sep35352020
Oct28281515
Nov191989
Dec131324

Average hourly temperature in Dihok

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 40°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

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

Dihok 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
Jan11° / 91101.59.82.7
Feb13° / 809.91.510.63.5
Mar17° / 87100.211.75.6
Apr23° / 11°578.5012.97.2
May30° / 16°244.4013.96.2
Jun37° / 21°10.4014.52.3
Jul40° / 25°10.2014.30.1
Aug40° / 24°00.1013.40.3
Sep35° / 20°10.3012.33.4
Oct28° / 15°223.20117.1
Nov19° / 556.30106.8
Dec13° / 838.80.79.53.8

Chance of rain

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

Dihok gets about 501 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 6.5 months, from around Oct 26 to May 10, peaking in February at about 37% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 31.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 91 mm over about 10 wet days; August is the driest, with 0 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetFeb 2 · 37%Jul 31 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3210
Feb3510
Mar3310
Apr299
May144
Jun20
Jul10
Aug00
Sep10
Oct103
Nov216
Dec299

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Dihok collects about 501 mm of rain across 62 wet days — roughly 42 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 91 mm, while August is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 52% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec91808757241101225583
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan91102
Feb80102
Mar87100
Apr5790
May2440
Jun100
Jul100
Aug000
Sep100
Oct2230
Nov5560
Dec8391

Snow in Dihok

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.

Dihok averages about 4 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Dec 12 to Mar 4 — about 2.7 months.

February is snowiest, with roughly 1.6 days of snow and an estimated 7 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 16 cm of snow.

01234JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonFeb 2
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan25
Feb27
Mar00
Apr00
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct00
Nov00
Dec14

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Dihok, 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 5.5 months, ending around October 24. 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 25 and lasts for 6.5 months, ending around May 9. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 48% 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 2 · 100%Jan 30 · 50%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5248
Feb5248
Mar5842
Apr6634
May8119
Jun973
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep982
Oct8218
Nov6634
Dec5446

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 9, 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)
Jan9.87:255:09
Feb10.67:055:41
Mar11.76:266:09
Apr12.95:406:37
May13.95:057:03
Jun14.54:537:24
Jul14.35:057:23
Aug13.45:296:55
Sep12.35:556:09
Oct11.06:225:24
Nov10.06:534:53
Dec9.57:204:49

Sunny days

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

Dihok averages about 20 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 10 and 30 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.1 months, from around May 20 to Oct 21. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 30 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is February, down near 11 sunny days — about 63% fewer than the August peak.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantAug 530 daysFeb 210 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan12Mixed
Feb10Mixed
Mar13Mixed
Apr14Mixed
May19Bright
Jun28Brilliant
Jul30Brilliant
Aug31Brilliant
Sep28Brilliant
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 Dihok, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in August, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 1% 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 (%)Humid (%)
Jan10000
Feb10000
Mar10000
Apr9460
May85150
Jun9550
Jul86140
Aug77221
Sep9280
Oct9370
Nov9910
Dec10000

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 Dihok is steady company: average speeds sit near 7 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeJun 13 · 8 km/hNov 18 · 6 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan7calm
Feb7calm
Mar8calm
Apr8calm
May8calm
Jun8calm
Jul8calm
Aug8calm
Sep7calm
Oct7calm
Nov6calm
Dec7calm

Hazard calendar for Dihok

In seasonPeak

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

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

Dihok 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 Dihok

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 26 · 7.9

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
Jan2.7poor
Feb3.5poor
Mar5.6good
Apr7.1good
May6.1good
Jun2.4poor
Jul0.2poor
Aug0.4poor
Sep3.4poor
Oct7.0good
Nov6.7good
Dec3.8fair

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 8 · 8.7

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 Dihok, 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 40°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 11°C), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Dihok sees daytime highs around 40°C and nights near 25°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Dihok 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 Dihok peaks around June 15 at about 10 (very high) — 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 highHighModerateJun 15UV 10Jan 12UV 2
UV index (midday)Level
Jan2Moderate
Feb3Moderate
Mar4Moderate
Apr6High
May8Very high
Jun10Extreme
Jul7Very high
Aug10Very high
Sep7Very high
Oct5High
Nov3Moderate
Dec2Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Dihok

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
Feb10
Mar3.50
Apr60
May7.54.5
Jun8.56
Jul84.5
Aug85
Sep6.53.5
Oct50
Nov20
Dec00

Air quality in Dihok 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 Dihok is worst in March — around 40 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorModerateMar 2140 µg/m³Dec 1027 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan29Moderate
Feb34Moderate
Mar40Poor
Apr39Poor
May38Poor
Jun35Poor
Jul31Moderate
Aug30Moderate
Sep30Moderate
Oct31Moderate
Nov27Moderate
Dec27Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

Dihok is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about February 26 to December 10 (288 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeFeb 2690%Dec 1090%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan7231
Feb8125
Mar970
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov990
Dec8522

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. Dihok banks about 3,583 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar54
Apr204
May398
Jun569
Jul694
Aug676
Sep520
Oct354
Nov114
Dec1

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.

Dihok receives about 5.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.2 and 8.0 kWh/m².

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

The dimmest month is December, down near 2.3 kWh/m² — roughly 71% less than the June peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJun 298.0 kWhDec 182.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan2.5Moderate
Feb3.4Moderate
Mar4.6Bright
Apr5.9Bright
May7.1Intense
Jun7.9Intense
Jul7.9Intense
Aug7.3Intense
Sep6.0Bright
Oct4.3Bright
Nov3.0Moderate
Dec2.2Moderate

Where is Dihok?

Dihok sits at 36.9°N, 43.0°E, 510 m above sea level, in Iraq. The nearest listed city is Sīnah, 8.0 km away.

MosulAl Mawşil al Jadīdah

Topography around Dihok

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Dihok has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 512 m around an average of 617 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,017 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 3,110 m.

The land around Dihok is covered by artificial surfaces (45%) and grassland (36%) within 3 km, grassland (59%) and cropland (25%) within 16 km, and grassland (46%) and cropland (41%) within 80 km.

3 km
512 m
16 km
1,017 m
80 km
3,110 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Sīnah 8.0 km · Simele 12 km · Sumayl 12 km · Batifa 34 km · Zaxo 41 km · Tallkayf 43 km · Mosul 60 km · Al Mawşil al Jadīdah 60 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 Dihok (36.8661°, 42.9879°, elevation 510 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).