Climate and average weather in Rānyah

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

Best: late September to early November

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Rānyah typically varies from -2°C to 37°C, and is rarely below -8°C or above 40°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 Rānyah for warm-weather activities are from late April to late May and late September to early November.

Hottest
Aug
37°
Coldest
Jan
-2°
Wettest
Feb
154 mm
Driest
Aug
0 mm
Rain / yr
840 mm
79 wet days
Daylight
9.5–14.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
574 m
36.3°N
Clearest
Aug
6% cloud

Rānyah is town in Iraqi Kurdistan.

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

Rānyah 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 September to early November.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.8 months, from June 2 to September 25, with daily high temperatures above 30°C. The hottest month of the year in Rānyah is August, with an average high of 37°C and low of 21°C.

The cool season lasts 3.5 months, from November 28 to March 12, with daily high temperatures below 13°C. The coldest month of the year in Rānyah is January, with an average low of -2°C and high of 7°C.

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

-10°10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan7-2
Feb90
Mar134
Apr198
May2513
Jun3318
Jul3721
Aug3721
Sep3216
Oct2512
Nov165
Dec91

How hot and cold Rānyah 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, Rānyah feels like about 38°C (around July 31). About 97 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in July.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -4°C (around January 15), with roughly 81 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)
Jan77-4-2
Feb89-20
Mar131334
Apr191988
May25251313
Jun32331818
Jul37372121
Aug37372121
Sep32321616
Oct25251112
Nov161645
Dec99-11

Average hourly temperature in Rānyah

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 37°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near -2°C.

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

Rānyah 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 / -2°15212.59.59.80.8
Feb / -0°154128.310.61.5
Mar13° / 148134.911.73.6
Apr19° / 9611.40.412.96.0
May25° / 13°356.4013.97.5
Jun33° / 18°30.8014.45.1
Jul37° / 21°10.2014.22.3
Aug37° / 21°00.1013.42.3
Sep32° / 16°20.5012.25.5
Oct25° / 12°324011.18.1
Nov16° / 888.1110.15.3
Dec / 1309.75.79.62.1

Chance of rain

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

Rānyah gets about 840 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 26 to May 14, peaking in February at about 46% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 5.

February is the wettest month by volume, with 154 mm over about 12 wet days; August is the driest, with 0 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetFeb 2 · 46%Aug 5 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3913
Feb4312
Mar4213
Apr3911
May206
Jun31
Jul10
Aug00
Sep21
Oct134
Nov278
Dec3210

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Rānyah collects about 840 mm of rain across 79 wet days — roughly 70 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. February is the wettest month with 154 mm, while August is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 54% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075100125150175200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec152154148963531023288130
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan1521310
Feb154128
Mar148135
Apr96110
May3560
Jun310
Jul100
Aug000
Sep210
Oct3240
Nov8881
Dec130106

Snow in Rānyah

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.

Rānyah averages about 30 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Nov 11 to Apr 15 — about 5.1 months.

February is snowiest, with roughly 9 days of snow and an estimated 73 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 200 cm of snow.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonFeb 1
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan1055
Feb873
Mar529
Apr02
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct00
Nov14
Dec637

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Rānyah, 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 53% 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 8 · 100%Feb 1 · 43%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4951
Feb4753
Mar5347
Apr6139
May8020
Jun973
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep982
Oct8218
Nov6634
Dec5347

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 16, brings about 14 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around December 15, 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)
Jan9.87:165:03
Feb10.66:565:34
Mar11.76:196:02
Apr12.95:336:28
May13.94:596:54
Jun14.44:477:14
Jul14.24:597:13
Aug13.45:236:46
Sep12.25:486:02
Oct11.16:145:17
Nov10.16:454:47
Dec9.67:104:43

Sunny days

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

Rānyah averages about 19 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 9 and 30 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.2 months, from around May 17 to Oct 20. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 30 sunny days (brilliant).

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

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantAug 530 daysJan 319 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan11Mixed
Feb9Mixed
Mar11Mixed
Apr13Mixed
May19Bright
Jun27Brilliant
Jul30Brilliant
Aug30Brilliant
Sep29Brilliant
Oct22Bright
Nov15Bright
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 Rānyah, 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
Apr1000
May982
Jun991
Jul973
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.

Wind in Rānyah is steady company: average speeds sit near 6 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmJun 18 · 7 km/hJan 29 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr5calm
May6calm
Jun7calm
Jul7calm
Aug6calm
Sep6calm
Oct6calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Rānyah

In seasonPeak

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

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

Rānyah sees seasonal dust haze (May), heaviest in May.

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

Best time to visit Rānyah

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late October, Rānyah 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 Rānyah for general outdoor tourist activities run from late April to early June and again from late September to early November, with a peak score in the second week of October.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 13 · 8.4

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
Jan0.9poor
Feb1.5poor
Mar3.6fair
Apr5.9good
May7.4good
Jun5.1fair
Jul2.4poor
Aug2.4poor
Sep5.5fair
Oct8.0ideal
Nov5.3fair
Dec2.1poor

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 Rānyah for hot-weather activities run from mid May to early July and again from early September to mid October, with a peak score in the last week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 27 · 9.1

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 Rānyah, 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 37°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 7°C), pack a warm layer, a heavy coat and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In August, Rānyah sees daytime highs around 37°C and nights near 21°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Rānyah 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 Rānyah peaks around June 23 at about 11 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near January 11 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 highModerateJun 23UV 11Jan 11UV 3
UV index (midday)Level
Jan3Moderate
Feb4Moderate
Mar4Moderate
Apr6High
May9Very high
Jun11Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug10Very high
Sep8Very high
Oct5High
Nov4Moderate
Dec3Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Rānyah

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 9 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 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)
Jan00
Feb3.50
Mar40
Apr6.52
May85
Jun96.5
Jul8.56
Aug85.5
Sep74
Oct50
Nov30
Dec00

Air quality in Rānyah 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 Rānyah is worst in March — around 42 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorModerateMar 2342 µg/m³Dec 1429 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan30Moderate
Feb34Moderate
Mar42Poor
Apr42Poor
May41Poor
Jun37Poor
Jul33Moderate
Aug33Moderate
Sep32Moderate
Oct34Moderate
Nov29Moderate
Dec29Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

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

The growing season in Rānyah typically lasts about 306 days, from around February 17 to December 19 — the span where a frost-free day is more likely than not. It is reliably frost-free from March 21 to November 20.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgrowing seasonFeb 1750%Mar 2190%Nov 2090%Dec 1950%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan3431
Feb5028
Mar8622
Apr990
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov9210
Dec5531

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. Rānyah banks about 2,725 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
Mar2
Apr109
May287
Jun454
Jul585
Aug577
Sep424
Oct252
Nov35
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.

Rānyah 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 29 to Oct 1. 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 258.0 kWhDec 172.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan2.6Moderate
Feb3.5Moderate
Mar4.7Bright
Apr6.0Intense
May7.2Intense
Jun8.0Intense
Jul7.8Intense
Aug7.3Intense
Sep6.1Intense
Oct4.5Bright
Nov3.1Moderate
Dec2.4Moderate

Where is Rānyah?

Rānyah sits at 36.3°N, 44.9°E, 574 m above sea level, in Iraq. The nearest listed city is Hajiawa, 8.0 km away.

ṞuwandizShaqlāwahSoranSardashtPiranshahr

Topography around Rānyah

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Rānyah has large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 787 m around an average of 651 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,983 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 3,330 m.

The land around Rānyah is covered by cropland (33%), grassland (30%) and artificial surfaces (28%) within 3 km, grassland (40%) and cropland (37%) within 16 km, and grassland (73%) within 80 km.

3 km
787 m
16 km
1,983 m
80 km
3,330 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Hajiawa 8.0 km · Qeładizê 24 km · Koysinceq 30 km · Ṟuwandiz 51 km · Shaqlāwah 53 km · Soran 54 km · Sardasht 55 km · Piranshahr 55 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 Rānyah (36.2551°, 44.8824°, elevation 574 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).