Iraq / Climate

Majority of places in Iraq has a continental climate with extremes of heat and cold temperatures. The mountainous northern portion of the country has cool summers and cold winters, often accompanied by snow. In central Iraq the summers are long and hot and the winters short and cool.

The mean January temperature in Baghdad is 9.4° C (49° F); for the months of July and August it is 33.3° C (92° F), and temperatures as high as 50.6° C (123° F) have been recorded. In the southern area around the Persian Gulf some of the highest atmospheric temperatures in the world have been recorded, and humidity is high.

In the northeastern highlands rainfall is considerable from October to May, but farther south, on the central alluvial plain, precipitation is slight, averaging approximately 152 mm (approximately 6 in) annually. The Syrian Desert gets little or no precipitation.

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