Climate and average weather in Ma'rib

In Ma'rib, the summers are sweltering, dry, and mostly clear and the winters are warm and clear.

Best: early November to mid February

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Ma'rib typically varies from 12°C to 39°C, and is rarely below 8°C or above 41°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while December is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Ma'rib for warm-weather activities is from early November to mid February.

Hottest
Jul
39°
Coldest
Dec
12°
Wettest
Apr
9 mm
Driest
Dec
0 mm
Rain / yr
36 mm
8 wet days
Daylight
11.1–12.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,095 m
15.5°N
Clearest
Dec
11% cloud

Ma'rib is City in Marib Governorate, Yemen.

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

Ma'rib 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 mid February.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Ma'rib, 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 4 to September 19, with daily high temperatures above 36°C. The hottest month of the year in Ma'rib is July, with an average high of 39°C and low of 25°C.

The cool season lasts 2.9 months, from November 14 to February 9, with daily high temperatures below 28°C. The coldest month of the year in Ma'rib is December, with an average low of 12°C and high of 26°C.

Days typically run about 14°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2612
Feb2915
Mar3218
Apr3420
May3723
Jun3824
Jul3925
Aug3925
Sep3622
Oct3218
Nov2815
Dec2612

How hot and cold Ma'rib 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, Ma'rib feels like about 39°C (around July 10). About 213 days a year carry some heat stress, and 10 of them tip into dangerous heat (feels-like above 39°C), peaking in July.

10°15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan26261212
Feb29291515
Mar32321818
Apr34342020
May37372223
Jun38382424
Jul39392525
Aug38392525
Sep36362222
Oct32321818
Nov28281515
Dec26261212

Average hourly temperature in Ma'rib

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 39°C, and coldest before dawn in December, near 12°C.

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

Ma'rib 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
Jan26° / 12°10.211.29.0
Feb29° / 15°20.511.57.6
Mar32° / 18°91.911.95.2
Apr34° / 20°91.912.33.7
May37° / 23°30.712.72.3
Jun38° / 24°40.212.91.2
Jul39° / 25°20.612.80.7
Aug39° / 25°51.112.51.0
Sep36° / 22°00.212.12.5
Oct32° / 18°20.411.65.7
Nov28° / 15°00.211.38.2
Dec26° / 12°0011.19.2

Chance of rain

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

Ma'rib gets about 36 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is mostly dry, and that barely changes with the seasons — rain is spread fairly evenly through the year.

April is the wettest month by volume, with 9 mm over about 2 wet days; December is the driest, with 0 mm.

0%10%20%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmostly drysome rainMar 26 · 8%Jan 1 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan10
Feb21
Mar62
Apr62
May21
Jun10
Jul21
Aug41
Sep10
Oct10
Nov10
Dec00

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Ma'rib collects about 36 mm of rain across 8 wet days — roughly 3 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. April is the wettest month with 9 mm, while December is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 62% of the year’s total.

025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec129934250200
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan10
Feb21
Mar92
Apr92
May31
Jun40
Jul21
Aug51
Sep00
Oct20
Nov00
Dec00

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Ma'rib, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows moderate seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around August 23 and lasts for 7.6 months, ending around April 11. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 94% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 12 and lasts for 4.4 months, ending around August 22. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 30% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecDec 17 · 95%Jul 26 · 67%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan919
Feb928
Mar919
Apr8614
May8515
Jun8020
Jul7030
Aug8119
Sep919
Oct919
Nov946
Dec946

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 2, brings about 12 h 54 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 06 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.26:335:43
Feb11.56:295:58
Mar11.96:126:05
Apr12.35:496:09
May12.75:336:16
Jun12.95:326:26
Jul12.85:396:29
Aug12.55:476:18
Sep12.15:505:56
Oct11.65:545:33
Nov11.36:065:22
Dec11.16:225:27

Sunny days

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

Ma'rib averages about 22 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 11 and 27 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.6 months, from around Sep 22 to Apr 11. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 27 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is July, down near 12 sunny days — about 55% fewer than the December peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantDec 1327 daysJul 2911 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan26Brilliant
Feb24Brilliant
Mar24Brilliant
Apr21Bright
May22Bright
Jun19Bright
Jul13Mixed
Aug16Bright
Sep21Bright
Oct25Brilliant
Nov26Brilliant
Dec28Brilliant

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 Ma'rib, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in August, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 3% 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 (%)Muggy (%)
Jan100000
Feb98210
Mar92620
Apr88840
May95410
Jun98201
Jul94411
Aug91621
Sep99100
Oct97210
Nov98200
Dec100000

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 Ma'rib is typically calm, near 10 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.4 months, from around Apr 29 to Oct 10. The windiest month is July, averaging about 12 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Oct 11 to Apr 28, with December the calmest month at about 7 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeJul 19 · 13 km/hDec 24 · 7 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan8calm
Feb8calm
Mar9calm
Apr9calm
May10calm
Jun11calm
Jul12light breeze
Aug11calm
Sep10calm
Oct9calm
Nov8calm
Dec7calm

Hazard calendar for Ma'rib

In seasonPeak

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

Ma'rib sees seasonal dust haze (May–September), heaviest in July.

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

Best time to visit Ma'rib

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early February, Ma'rib 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 time of year to visit Ma'rib for general outdoor tourist activities is from early November to mid February, with a peak score in the last week of December.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 23 · 9.3

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
Jan9.0ideal
Feb7.5ideal
Mar5.2fair
Apr3.7fair
May2.3poor
Jun1.2poor
Jul0.7poor
Aug1.0poor
Sep2.5poor
Oct5.7good
Nov8.2ideal
Dec9.2ideal

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Ma'rib for hot-weather activities is from late September to mid April, with a peak score in the second week of November.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationNov 8 · 9.4

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 Ma'rib, 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 39°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around December (highs near 26°C), pack light clothes and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Ma'rib sees daytime highs around 39°C and nights near 25°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Ma'rib 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 Ma'rib peaks around April 14 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 12 at about 8 (very high).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highApr 14UV 14Dec 12UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan10Very high
Feb12Extreme
Mar13Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul10Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct11Extreme
Nov9Very high
Dec8Very high

Average hourly UV index in Ma'rib

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 April the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7 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)
Jan74.5
Feb7.55.5
Mar86
Apr8.57
May86
Jun86
Jul85.5
Aug86
Sep86
Oct7.55.5
Nov74.5
Dec6.54

Air quality in Ma'rib 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 Ma'rib is worst in February — around 54 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 2.4× the cleanest month (November, 23 µg/m³).

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecPoorModerateFeb 1653 µg/m³Nov 1123 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan44Poor
Feb54Poor
Mar46Poor
Apr43Poor
May39Poor
Jun44Poor
Jul44Poor
Aug38Poor
Sep33Moderate
Oct24Moderate
Nov23Moderate
Dec29Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Ma'rib 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. Ma'rib banks about 5,854 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)
Jan287
Feb329
Mar463
Apr517
May604
Jun627
Jul687
Aug677
Sep579
Oct456
Nov342
Dec286

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.

Ma'rib receives about 6.5 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — intense — with a clear seasonal swing between 5.7 and 7.5 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.0 months, from around Feb 23 to Jun 25. The brightest month is May, averaging about 7.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 5.7 kWh/m² — roughly 22% less than the May peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseMay 97.5 kWhDec 225.7 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.8Bright
Feb6.3Intense
Mar6.9Intense
Apr7.3Intense
May7.4Intense
Jun6.7Intense
Jul6.3Intense
Aug6.5Intense
Sep6.6Intense
Oct6.6Intense
Nov6.1Intense
Dec5.7Bright

Where is Ma'rib?

Ma'rib sits at 15.5°N, 45.3°E, 1,095 m above sea level, in Yemen. The nearest listed city is Al Ḩazm, 98 km away.

Al ḨazmSaḩarSayyānSanaaDhamār‘AmrānYarīmAl Bayda

Topography around Ma'rib

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Ma'rib has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 55 m around an average of 1,095 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 681 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,366 m.

The land around Ma'rib is covered by bare terrain (63%) and cropland (20%) within 3 km, bare terrain (84%) within 16 km, and bare terrain (98%) within 80 km.

3 km
55 m
16 km
681 m
80 km
2,366 m
treescroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Al Ḩazm 98 km · Saḩar 110 km · Sayyān 112 km · Sanaa 121 km · Dhamār 142 km · ‘Amrān 150 km · Yarīm 165 km · Al Bayda 166 km

Yemen travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 4
Do Not Travel
Power plugs
Type A / D / G
240 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 7% of US
price level, 2013
GDP per capita
$634
2018
Happiness
3.5 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
5.8
per 100k, 2013
Road deaths
29.4
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 402
Religion
Muslim 99%other 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 Ma'rib (15.4625°, 45.3258°, elevation 1,095 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).