🇹🇳Tunisia

Tunisia (163,610 km²) spans North Africa between 30°–37°N, 7°–11°E, from the Mediterranean coast across the Atlas Mountains to the Sahara Desert, creating three distinct climate zones within a compact national territory. The humid Mediterranean north (Köppen Csa) receives 400–1,000 mm annual rainfall concentrated in cool, wet winters (November–March) and experiences hot, dry summers with daily highs of 32–35°C, supporting olive groves, wheat cultivation, and coastal tourism infrastructure from Bizerte to Hammamet.

The semi-arid central steppes (Köppen BSh) receive 200–400 mm of rainfall and support steppe vegetation, while the vast southern Saharan interior (Köppen BWh) receives under 100 mm annually with extreme temperature swings from 45°C+ summer highs to occasional winter frosts.

The Dorsal Atlas mountains rising to 1,544 m at Jebel Chambi capture orographic precipitation, while the Medjerda (Tunisia's longest river) feeds reservoirs like Sidi Salem (capacity about 550–650 million m³, Tunisia's largest dam).

Tunisia experienced major climate-related hazards between 2017 and 2024. A prolonged drought, in its fourth year by 2023, severely reduced water availability, forcing the state water company to cut supplies every night from 9 pm to 4 am. Authorities also rationed irrigation water and banned the use of drinking water for irrigating fields.

A July 2023 heatwave drove Tunis to its highest temperature on record, 49.0°C on 24 July. The multi-day heat strained electricity grids.

In September 2018, torrential storms dropped over 200 mm of rain in 24 hours across the Nabeul-Cap Bon peninsula, killing at least four people. Coastal erosion has accelerated in recent decades, with beaches retreating in Djerba, Hammamet, and Monastir.

Our archive covers 10 Tunisian cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.8°C.