What the weather is really like
Below the live dashboard you’ll find the 24-hour and seven-day forecasts and a clear account of how the weather turns through the year here.
In an average year only about 120 mm of rain falls, almost all between November and April. Peak-summer afternoons reach around 43 °C; winter days sit near 19 °C with nights dropping to about 5 °C.
The rolling rangeland and date oases of the north sit a little higher and cooler than Riyadh, with frost a real feature of the calm winter nights.
Day to day that means strong sun, a wide swing from afternoon to dawn, and few surprises beyond the spring dust and the rare heavy storm.
The sun is relentless here. Clear skies for the great majority of the year push the UV index high to extreme right through summer, and it stays moderate even in the depths of winter, so sun protection earns its place almost year-round.
The wide horizon makes the weather easy to read here: you can see a dust front coming from far off, and storm clouds gather over the plain well before they arrive.
The hot season
From late spring the heat builds fast. Afternoons climb to about 43 °C under a hard sun, with very dry air; nights fall back toward 27 °C. Work and travel are best kept to the early morning and the cool of the evening.
Winter nights
Come winter the weather turns gentle by day. Days run near 19 °C, but the clear desert sky lets the temperature fall to around 5 °C after dark, with frost likely on the stillest nights. It’s comfortably the best stretch of the year for being outdoors.
Spring & autumn
Autumn and spring don’t linger. Spring brings spring, with frequent dust storms and the year’s most active rain, greening the desert for a few weeks; autumn is the calmer, settled side of the year.
Rainfall
Don’t count on rain: the yearly total is tiny and summer is effectively dry. But when a cool-season or spring system does cross, it can dump a large share of the annual rainfall in an hour, sending water down the wadis.
The seven-day strip flags any wet or stormy days on the way.
Outside those few wet spells, the sky here stays clear and the ground bone dry for months on end.
Dust & dry air
Humidity is very low, so the heat is dry rather than muggy, though that dryness makes water essential. The main hazard is dust: northerly winds, strongest in spring, raise dust storms across the open desert that cut visibility and spike the air-quality reading.
The panel above tracks wind, gusts and air quality as the day goes on.
Most days, though, the dry air is clear and the wind no more than a light breeze.
What to wear and when to go
If you’re heading out here, the early morning and the evening are your friends in summer; winter days are made for it, but the nights bite, so dress for both. On dusty spring days, those sensitive to dust should keep an eye on the air quality first.
On a desert trip or camp, the cool season is ideal; just carry enough warmth for the nights, which drop sharply once the sun is down on this open ground.
The dashboard above is built to answer the everyday questions — has it cooled off yet, is dust on the way, will it rain this week — so a quick look before you head out usually settles the plan for the day.
The cool months from about November to March are the time to come; whatever the season, the live readings and forecast on this page keep you ahead of the weather.