The Best Beaches Near Marrakech The ultramarathon is about 250 kilometers . The Sahara Desert temperature is usually between 30C and 50C during the day. Morocco is one of the worlds most diverse countries, ranging from the Atlantic Coast to the High Atlas Mountains to the Sahara Desert. Up to 2.3 feet oftorrential rainis now tipped to drench England and Wales early this week sparking multiple weather warnings. Tan-Tan Moussem (Festival). The northern parts of the desert experience cold winters, while central areas and warm to mild weather during wintertime. During the hottest months, the average high temperature ranges between 38 to 40C. The weather continues to cool down in October, making this month a popular time for tourists. Technically, it's the coldest month of the year in Morocco, but you won't need heavier clothing until after dark, when the temperatures fall into the high 30s or lower 40s. Frogs, toads, and crocodiles live in the lakes and pools of the Sahara. It also gets colder and windier in coastal cities like Essaouira and snow gets thicker in the High Atlas Mountains. Snow also fell in Lebanon, Syria and Iran where some regions were buried under four feet. 18 0 C is mostly used because it gives a more accurate insight into the temperatures of an arid region throughout the year. Its an incredible change from daytime highs of over 100-degrees Fahrenheit during a day with sunshine to nighttime lows of minus 4-degrees Celsius on chilly nights without any warmth coming from the sky. While its the start of the winter season in Morocco, its still mild and sunny, with some rainy days. Snowy conditions make much of the High Atlas mountains impassable and snow falls heavily in many of the smaller villages. During winter, temperatures in the Sahara Desert are about 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 C) on average. Examine how continuous climate change impacts the Sahara and its vegetation, Investigate the impact of sand particles of the Sahara on the Earth's climate. In 2018 there was 40cm (15in) of snow. Between 15 and 35 latitude (North and South of the equator); examples are Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahua, and Great Basin (North America); Sahara (Africa); Negev (Middle East); and Gobi (Asia). Kelaat-MGouna, known as the valley of roses, hosts this annual festival every year in May. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Although precipitation is highly variable, it averages about 3 inches (76 millimetres) per year. Despite these rapid temperature swings, desert animals are well adapted for the desert's extreme temperature changes. Sarah Appleton, National Geographic Society. Whether you want to go hiking, cycling, or quad biking, March is a great month to do it. The various snails that inhabit the desert are an important source of food for birds and animals. Thanks for contacting us. Its also the start of the lower season, so if youre looking for a quieter experience, this is the month to do it. "But even if most are wet enough, it will only take one really dry year to cause big problems.". A photographer has captured images of camels after a snowfall in the Tabuk region in northwestern Saudi Arabia. "We had waited for 3 years for this trip to happen. It also extends into Morocco and Mauritania. Youll likely find the sun shining and the flowers blooming when you visit Morocco in March. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Snowfall occurs occasionally over the northern plateaus. The best time for skiing in Morocco falls from mid-January to mid-February. Erfoud Dates Festival. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Little precipitation falls in May and June. If you're prepared for cold and snow, you could also plan to spend a day skiing in the nearby Atlas mountains. Our local travel specialists have been recommended by. Yennayer (Amazigh New Year). Instead, the real problem is that climate change may impact the amount of annual precipitation that desert creatures rely on. The Sahara desert has been hit by an icy blast with temperatures dipping below freezing. In fact, the most important characteristic of a desert is that it receives very little rainfall. This includes the record of 56.7C (134.1F) in Death Valley, which is currently considered the highest temperature recorded on Earth. When there is no water vapor in the atmosphere, sunlight can be absorbed by rock and sand much easiercausing an increase of at least 10 degrees over a short period of time! Shopping In Tangier. window.StacklaGoConnectConfig.cdn : 'assetscdn.stackla.com'; GET INSPIRED BY: Spain, Morocco and Portugal. An example of this is the Patagonian Desert in Argentina bounded by the Andes ranges to its west. Since 1995, joint Mongolian-American and Mongolian-European expeditions have also investigated the tectonic history and landscape evolution of the Gobi. The dry tropical climate to the south is dominated by the same high-pressure cells, but it is regularly influenced by the seasonal interaction of a stable continental subtropical air mass and a southerly, unstable maritime tropical air mass. Download issues for free. RELATED CONTENT: 5 magical experiences to have in Morocco with Trafalgar. 1996 - 2023 National Geographic Society. How the Earth was made? The Ladakh region, and the city of Leh in the Great Himalayas in India also have a cold desert climate. Planning A Moroccan Wedding If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. January is one of the coldest months there with an average temperature of 14C (57F). Useful mineral deposits are scant, but salt, coal, petroleum, copper and other ores are mined. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. You cant miss this incredible Dates Festival held in the oasis of Erfoud near Ouarzazate. That means there are all kinds of weather and seasons throughout the year. RELATED CONTENT: 12 quarantine-free travel experiences to try in 2021. Deserts are landscapes that receive little precipitation. "It will become less consistent, you will have relatively wet years and relatively dry years," DeNardo said. But their ability to fly long distances between water sources or to scavenge food, means they don't have to worry as much about conserving water like other desert animals. Though you'll have crowds to contend with in the first week of the month, the latter part of January is a quiet time to visit. To delineate "hot desert climates" from "cold desert climates", there are three widely used isotherms: most commonly[2] a mean annual temperature of 18C (64.4F), or sometimes the coldest month's mean temperature of 0 or 3C (32.0 or 26.6F), so that a location with a BW type climate with the appropriate temperature above whichever isotherm is being used is classified as "hot arid subtype" (BWh), and a location with the appropriate temperature below the given isotherm is classified as "cold arid subtype" (BWk). It can be hard to imagine that a place like the Sahara desert could ever have been considered lush and fertile. If you prefer to visit Morocco in a quieter season, youll find fewer crowds all over Morocco in February as its the shoulder season. In North America the cold desert climate occurs in the drier parts of the Great Basin Desert and in the Bighorn Basin in Big Horn and Washakie County in Wyoming. Rodents include marmots and gophers, and there are reptiles. In other words, reptiles can use this energy elsewhere, like hunting. You cannot download interactives. Since the 1950s, population increase and the overuse of marginal lands have decreased vegetation cover and increased soil erosion, resulting in an overall expansion of the desert area of the Gobi at the expense of semiarid grasslands on the fringes. By far the coldest continent, Antarctica has winter temperatures that range from 128.6 F (89.2 C), the world's lowest recorded temperature, measured at Vostok Station (Russia) on July 21, 1983, on the high inland ice sheet to 76 F (60 C . The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". In the salt marshes, too, halophilous groups prevail: potash bush, Siberian nitre bush, tamarisk, and annual halophytes; in the sands grow saxaul, the sandy wormwood, and sparse perennial and annual herbs such as the annual Gobi kumarchik (Agriophylum gobicum) and the perennial timuriya (Timouria villosa). The coldest temperature recorded there is -10C on January 10, 1913. "They face a much bigger challenge because they don't get to move," DeNardo said. The coldest months in the Sahara Desert are January and December. Marrakech & Grand Tour of the Sahara Desert - 6 Days Explore the peaks of the High Atlas mountains and the vast sandy landscapes of the Sahara on this outdoorsy tour. New Year celebrations. Despite these temperatures, the Sahara is home to olive trees, antelope, jerboa, scorpions, jackals, and hyenas. He is also interested in evolution, climate change, robots, space exploration, environmental conservation and anything that's been fossilized. The daytime temperature averages 38C while in some deserts it can get down to -4C at night. During the same period, U.S. and European expeditions conducted paleontological research on exceptionally preserved dinosaur fossil assemblages in the desert dating to Late Cretaceous times (i.e., about 100 million to 66 million years ago). Snow rarely melts on most parts of the continent, and, after being compressed, becomes the glacier ice that makes up the ice sheet. High radiation levels caused by fallout have been detected in the western Gobi in the area around Chinas chief nuclear weapons test site near Lop Nur. On January 10, locals in the mountainous region were treated to a flurry of snow. Daily temperature ranges are considerable during both the winter and summer months. Gnaoua World Music Festival. The climate is acutely continental and dry: winter is severe, spring is dry and cold, and summer is warm. This makes hot deserts present in every continent except two: Antarctica and Europe. The lowest, 436 feet (133 metres) below sea level, is in the Qattara Depression of Egypt. As the last month of spring, the weather starts getting warmer and sunnier in May. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Join the parties and festivities held by different hotels in the major cities of Morocco like Marrakesh, Casablanca and Fes. The annual temperature range is considerable, with average lows in January reaching 40 F (40 C) and average highs in July climbing to 113 F (45 C); daily temperature ranges also can be quite large. NASA Goddard Space Heres how it works. Outdoor activities. In 2022, Ramadan will begin April 2nd and ends May 1st. Harry is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science. A noteworthy departure from existing norms occurred from the 16th to the 18th century, the period of the so-called Little Ice Age in Europe: precipitation increased significantly along the tropical margin of the Sahara, in the desert itself, and perhaps along the northern margin as well. Held every year in Marrakesh to celebrate cinema, there are all kinds of films, workshops and events running, and dont miss the movie projections on the main square of Jemaa El Fna. Monthly Temperature and Precipitation from 1970 - 2000. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert climates are dry and hold little moisture, quickly evaporating the already little rainfall they receive. Late spring and early summer are hot; high temperatures of 122 F (50 C) are not unusual. The highest point in the desert is the 11,204-foot (3,415-metre) summit of Mount Koussi in the Tibesti Mountains in Chad. If youre after water sports, surfing, beaches and seafood, head to Essaouira. The Absheron Peninsula in eastern Azerbaijan is also an example of a cold desert climate. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, New coronavirus strain discovered in California as Fauci warns super-Covid should spur you to get vaccine, Melania Trump says violence is never the answer and will never be justified in her goodbye vid, QAnon Rep. 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There are several highways, including one from eastern China to Xinjiang across the Bei Mountains and the Gaxun Gobi; from the town of Kalgan (Zhangjiakou) in Inner Mongolia (northwest of Beijing) to Ulaanbaatar; and from Ulaanbaatar to Dalandzadgad in southern Mongolia, some 300 miles (500 km) south-southwest of Ulaanbaatar. In semidesert tracts vegetation is richer, belonging to the herbaceous and wormwood groups: Gobi feather grass, Gobi kumarchik, timuriya, snakeweed (Cleistogenes species; another perennial), and cold wormwood. The traditional living quarters of the Mongol nomads are felt yurts and orgers (types of tent), while the Chinese farmers live in clay homes built from crude brick. With daytime temperatures rising to 45C, its best to go exploring in the mornings and evenings and spend the midday soaking in a pool. Starting with the superb itinerary by Sharon to our wonderful guide Amnay and driver Waleed. At night, the average temperature is between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius. Composed of mostly ice flats, Antarctica has reached temperatures as low as -89C (-128.2F). Some desert plant species have a short life cycle of a few weeks that lasts only during periods of rain. The Kyzyl Kum, Taklamakan and Katpana Desert deserts of Central Asia are other major examples of BWk climates. The Sahara Desert's vast, harsh landscape is home to little life, but hardy animals and vegetation can be found in sparse pockets like the Merzouga oasis in Morocco. Its also best to stay clear of the Sahara Desert in August as its simply too hot. The heat of the desert can reach extreme temperatures during the day. Lizards, chameleons, skinks, and cobras are found among the rocks and dunes. It's a national holiday, and street parties and festivals take place in cities and towns across the country. When not at work he can be found watching sci-fi films, playing old Pokemon games or running (probably slower than he'd like). The reason is that they both see little precipitation during the course of a year, typically around 25 centimeters (10 inches), or less. A fair number of the livestock consists of two-humped Bactrian camels, still used for transportation in some areas. Arctic and Antarctic regions also receive very little precipitation during the year, owing to the exceptionally cold dry air freezing most precipitation; however, both of them are generally classified as having polar climates because they have average summer temperatures below 10C (50F) even if they have such desert-like features as intermittent streams, hypersaline lakes, and extremely barren terrain in unglaciated areas such as the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Sahara Desert in DecemberSahara Desert in FebruaryHow to Get to the Sahara Desert4 Must-Visit Regions in Morocco's DesertGetting Around Morocco. What is the climate of the Sahara Desert? The annual total precipitation varies from less than 2 inches (50 mm) in the west to more than 8 inches (200 mm) in the northeast. Summers in South America's Atacama Desert are mild with only slight temperature variations between seasons. People have adapted to life in the desert for thou sands of years. The temperatures are warm but not sweltering, and the rain is easing off. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. As in the north, much of this rainfall occurs as thunderstorms. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". March marks the first month of spring where temperatures range from 26 C to 15 cm on average (~15-59 degrees Fahrenheit). Subtropical deserts like the Sahara are what people generally imagine when they think about the desert. At night, find a cozy place to try traditional Moroccan cuisineanywhere near an open fire will dobut you'll want to focus your energy on activities during January's relatively short daylight hours, when the temperatures are pleasant for being outside. In the case of Central Asia, mountains restrict precipitation from the eastern monsoon. The Sahara Desert extends across ten countries, occupying nearly a third of the continent of Africa. The milky way shines in the night sky over the Sahara Desert. Therefore, a lack of humidity in deserts allows these arid places to quickly heat up but also rapidly cool. The region first became known to Europeans through the vivid 13th-century descriptions of Marco Polo, but it otherwise remained for them virtually unknown and untraveled. If youre heading to the Sahara Desert, youll get mild daytime temperatures, but the nights will be very cold, so bring your warmest clothes!
