🇩🇿Algeria

Algeria spans 18°58′ to 37°06′N as the largest country in Africa, covering approximately 2.38 million km² from the Mediterranean coast through the Tell Atlas and Saharan Atlas mountain ranges into the immense Sahara desert that dominates eighty percent of the territory. The Hoggar Mountains in the deep south rise to Mount Tahat, the country's highest point, at about 2,900 to 3,000 m.

Major Köppen regimes include Mediterranean Csa along the narrow north coast (Algiers, Annaba), cold semi-arid steppe BSk on the High Plateaus between the two Atlas ranges, hot semi-arid BSh transitioning to hot arid BWh across the Saharan piedmont, hyperarid BWh across the central and southwestern Sahara (Tamanrasset, In Salah, the Erg Chech sand sea), and cooler, slightly less arid conditions at altitude in the Hoggar.

Algiers on the coast sees January highs of 17°C and lows of 6°C and August highs of 33°C with 600 mm of winter-concentrated rainfall. Oran is drier at around 340 mm with classic Mediterranean rhythm. Sétif on the High Plateaus sees occasional winter snow. Tamanrasset in the Saharan Hoggar at about 1,300 m is paradoxically mild, with January highs of about 21°C and lows of 5°C and July highs of about 36°C, with only about 60 mm of rain.

Algeria has recorded extreme temperatures and diverse precipitation variability. In Salah in the central Sahara has reached 50.6°C, and the national record of 51.3°C, measured at Ouargla on 5 July 2018, is also Africa's highest reliable reading.

Recent events include Saharan flash floods in Tamanrasset in 2023, occasional snowfall and cold snaps in the Atlas Mountains, and recurrent drought across the Tell agricultural belt. The north coast is exposed to growing heat stress. Desert winds such as the sirocco bring sustained heat in summer months.

Our archive covers 42 Algerian cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The hottest July afternoons are in Ouargla, with average highs around 41.2°C, while Sétif has the coldest January nights, with average lows near 0.4°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 2.2°C.