ALGERIA
Climate and Weather

Climate and Weather

Algeria Drought_{Photo: Madxk CC 4.0 International no changes made}

Northern Algeria has a mild, Mediterranean climate, although local variations may occur due to the microclimates. Moreover, large differences can be observed from year to year in terms of rainfall and temperatures. It is not uncommon to have summer weather in winter and winter weather in late spring. As a result of these strong fluctuations, Northern Algeria is hit by floods and then again by long periods of drought. The average temperature is between 21 and 24°C, with regular daytime peaks above 35°C. Due to the high humidity, however, it is hardly to harden in the summer. In winter, the average temperature drops to 10-12°C and can feel quite cold at night. Even in a city like Sétif, at an altitude of 1096 meters, winter can strike and snow can fall. In the summer it is just very hot and in the spring the sirocco blows a dry, suffocating wind over the desert for several weeks.

The Sahara is of course known for its scorching temperatures and that is in Algeria not different. In summer, the temperature easily rises to values above 50°C in the middle of the day. But especially in winter, it can cool down considerably at night, even below freezing. The temperature of the soil can be more than 10°C higher than the air temperature.

Dark rain clouds gather over Annaba, Algeria_{Photo: Faten Aggad CC 3.0 Unported no changes made}

Rainfall is certainly not uncommon on the coast in the north, especially in winter and spring. When it rains, it rains quite a bit, drizzle is almost non-existent. In the north, an average falls between 400 and 700 mm per year, but that amount increases from west to east and near Annaba along the Mediterranean coast in Northeast Algeria falls around 1000 mm annually. Inland it rains of course much less and in the summer hardly a drop falls. It is also very dry in the Sahara, in the desert city of In-Salah on average only 13 mm of rainfall per year. Yet it can unexpectedly rain extremely hard, even flooding as a result. In May 2007, torrential rains and hail storms caused the Sahara city of Hassi Messaoud to be flooded within eight hours.

Mediterranean coast
	minimum temp.	average temp.	maximum temp.	water temp.
January	9.8°C	13.1°C	16.4°C	15.7°C
February	10.1°C	13.8°C	17.4°C	16.1°C
March	11.2°C	15.0°C	18.9°C	16.3°C
April	12.9°C	17.0°C	21.2°C	17.2°C
May	15.5°C	19.7°C	23.9°C	19.9°C
June	18.5°C	22.9°C	27.3°C	22.5°C
July	20.8°C	25.5°C	30.2°C	23.5°C
August	21.7°C	26.3°C	30.9°C	22.4°C
September	20.4°C	24.7°C	29.0°C	22.4°C
October	17.3°C	21.3°C	25.2°C	22.1°C
November	13.7°C	17.2°C	20.7°C	18.7°C
December	10.8°C	14.2°C	17.5°C	16.6°C

Between Tell and Sahara Atlas
	minimum temp.	average temp.	maximum temp.
January	3.7°C	8.5°C	23.5°C
February	5.6°C	10.9°C	23.4°C
March	7.0°C	12.7°C	31.5°C
April	12.9°C	17.0°C	21.2°C
May	13.1°C	20.4°C	36.6°C
June	17.5°C	25.0°C	41.0°C
July	21.1°C	29.1°C	43.5°C
August	20.0°C	27.8°C	40.9°C
September	17.3°C	23.6°C	38.0°C
October	11.9°C	17.4°C	31.9°C
November	7.9°C	12.5°C	29.3°C
December	4.7°C	9.0°C	24.2°C

Ahaggar Mountains
	minimum temp.	average temp.	maximum temp.
January	4.0°C	12.0°C	20.0°C
February	6.0°C	14.0°C	22.0°C
March	9.0°C	17.5°C	26.0°C
April	14.0°C	22.0°C	30.0°C
May	17.0°C	25.0°C	33.0°C
June	21.0°C	28.0°C	35.0°C
July	22.0°C	28.5°C	35.0°C
August	21.0°C	27.5°C	34.0°C
September	19.0°C	26.0°C	33.0°C
October	15.0°C	22.5°C	30.0°C
November	11.0°C	18.0°C	25.0°C
December	6.0°C	13.5°C	21.0°C

Sahara
	minimum temp.	average temp.	maximum temp.
January	4.1°C	10.9°C	27.4°C
February	6.2°C	13.3°C	32.6°C
March	9.4°C	16.8°C	37.4°C
April	12.8°C	21.0°C	40.8°C
May	16.9°C	25.6°C	44.6°C
June	21.4°C	30.4°C	51.6°C
July	24.1°C	33.5°C	54.0°C
August	23.6°C	32.7°C	50.8°C
September	20.9°C	29.2°C	50.2°C
October	15.2°C	22.8°C	42.0°C
November	9.5°C	16.3°C	33.2°C
December	4.8°C	11.5°C	29.0°C

Climate table In-Salah, desert city in Central Algeria_{Photo: Hedwig in Wahington CC 3.0 Unported no changes made}

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Sources

Agada, Birgit / Algerien : Kultur und Natur zwischen Mittelmeer und Sahara
Trescher

BBC - Country Profiles 

Beker, Michel / Algerije
KIT Publishers/Oxfam Novib

CIA - World Factbook 

Elmar Landeninformatie

Ham, Anthony / Algeria
Lonely Planet

Kagda, Falaq / Algeria
Marshall Cavendish

Oakes, Jonathan / Algeria
Bradt Travel Guides

Last updated March 2024
Copyright: Team The World of Info