🇯🇴Jordan

Jordan lies in western Asia, a roughly 89,342 km² nation bordering Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Palestine. Three distinct natural zones define the kingdom: the dramatic Jordan Rift Valley, which cradles the Dead Sea at more than 430 m below sea level (the lowest land surface on Earth), the Jordan River, and the Red Sea resort port of Aqaba; the highland plateau east of the Rift, where Amman sits at 700–1,100 m alongside the historic towns of Jerash and Karak, forming Jordan's settled heartland; and the vast eastern badia desert, which blankets most of the country.

Jabal Umm ad Dami rises to 1,854 m near the spectacular sandstone desert of Wadi Rum. This topographic gradient produces a striking climate split: hot-summer Mediterranean (Köppen Csa) on the rain-fed western highlands, grading into hot semi-arid (BSh) and hot desert (BWh) across the eastern badia and southern Aqaba region.

Amman has January highs of 13°C and lows of 4°C, and August highs of 33°C, with 240 mm (east) to 520 mm (west) of rainfall falling almost entirely between November and April; snowfall dusts the capital once or twice in a typical year, and the legendary December 2013 Storm Alexa brought deep snow to the highlands. Irbid, with January highs of 13°C (lows 5°C) and August highs of 32°C with 430 mm, lies in the wetter northern part of the country. Karak records January highs of 12°C (lows 3°C) and August highs of 32°C with 320 mm.

At the southern tip, Aqaba on the Red Sea sees January highs of 21°C (lows 10°C) and August highs of 41°C with a meager 29 mm, making it among the driest sites in Jordan. The Dead Sea shore receives only 50–100 mm, while the eastern badia towns of Azraq and Safawi are arid desert. Aqaba reached its all-time local high of 49.6°C in August 2025, while the national record stands at 51.1°C, set at Deir Alla in August 2010.

Jordan faces climate extremes. The Dead Sea level has declined at approximately 1 meter per year, affecting water resources and infrastructure. Recurrent droughts have stressed agriculture and water supplies across the country. Flash floods strike Petra and Wadi Musa; the October 2018 flash flood at Zarqa Ma'in near the Dead Sea killed 21 people, most of them pupils and teachers on a school trip. Eastern Mediterranean dust storms bring severe air quality impacts. Climate change and regional drought add pressure on Jordan's limited water resources.

Our archive covers 11 Jordanian cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The hottest July afternoons are in Zarqa, with average highs around 32.9°C, while Ṣuwayliḥ has the coldest January nights, with average lows near 2°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.8°C.