Understanding the climate here
Below the live dashboard sit the 24-hour and seven-day forecasts, plus a grounded look at how the heat, the cold nights and the spring dust actually play out here.
Rainfall is slight — close to 110 mm a year — and the swing between the seasons is wide, from July highs around 43 °C to winter nights near 8 °C. The classification is hot desert, Köppen BWh.
Quiet residential streets, family compounds and local mosques shape the rhythm of the day, and the built-up blocks keep the evenings mild long after the sun has gone.
The upshot is a simple yearly rhythm: a heat-dominated summer to be managed, a brief cool winter everyone enjoys, and a short, dust-prone spring along the way.
With cloudless skies on most days, ultraviolet levels run high for much of the year; a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen are worth carrying even on a mild winter afternoon, and the glare off the pale ground only adds to it.
The hot season
From June into September the heat takes over. Afternoons reach about 43 °C and the air stays very dry, easing only into the high twenties after dark. Cars turn into ovens within minutes and the dry air dehydrates you before you notice, so water comes first.
Winter nights
Come December the weather softens. Days run near 20 °C under mostly clear skies, but the same clear skies let the nights turn cold, down to around 8 °C, so an extra layer is worth having once the sun sets. Bring a jacket for after dark and you will find it the easiest weather of the year.
Spring & autumn
The shoulder months come and go fast. Temperatures are agreeable, but spring is the time to watch the dust forecast: a strong northerly can haze the streets and coat the cars within an hour. When the dust holds off, these are some of the prettiest days around — mild, clear and still.
Rainfall
Don’t expect much rain — the yearly total is small and concentrated in the cool months — but when a storm does break, the hard city surfaces turn streets to running water quickly, then it’s gone.
The hourly and seven-day panels above track the live chance of rain so you can see a wet spell coming.
Most of the year the sky stays clear and the rain gauge empty.
Dust & dry air
The air is dry enough that even a hot afternoon feels less heavy than the same temperature on the Gulf, though that dryness makes water all the more important. Dust, not humidity, is the thing to watch — most often in spring, when the wind hauls it off the open desert and over the city.
Watch the wind and air-quality figures above to judge when a dusty afternoon is on the way.
Outside the spring dust season the wind is usually light and the skies clean.
What to wear and when to go
Planning around the weather here is mostly about the summer: dress light, keep out of the midday sun, carry water, and save errands and exercise for the cool ends of the day. Keep a jacket handy for winter evenings, which turn colder than first-time visitors expect.
Out walking or shopping, the shaded side of the street and the indoor malls make summer afternoons workable, while winter evenings belong to the open-air cafés and markets.
Make the live panel your first stop. It shows the current conditions, the hour-by-hour trend and the full week ahead, which between them cover almost everything you need to plan a day around the weather.
For comfort, aim for the November-to-March window — and either way, the conditions above refresh on their own so you always have a current picture before you head out.