Al Nada: a year of weather
Scroll down for the current readings, today’s hourly forecast and the seven-day outlook, alongside notes on what each season really feels like locally.
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.
Villas and low apartment blocks, walled gardens and wide streets store the day’s heat and give it back slowly, so a summer night here can sit a degree or two above the open desert at the city’s rim.
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.
Summer heat
High summer here is fierce and dry. 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
Winter brings the most comfortable weeks of the year. 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.
The shoulder seasons
Spring and autumn pass quickly. 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.
When it rains
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.
Wind, dust and the 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.
Planning around the weather
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.