Climate
Tunis has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa), characterized by a hot and dry season and a cool and rainy season. The local climate is also affected somewhat by the latitude of the city, the moderating influence of the Mediterranean sea and the terrain of the hills.
Winter is the wettest season of the year, when more than a third of the annual rainfall falls during this period, raining on average every two or three days. The sun may still increase the temperature from 7 °C (45 °F) in the morning to 16 °C (61 °F) in the afternoon on average during the winter. Frosts are rare or non existent. In spring, rainfall declines by half. The sunshine becomes dominant in May when it reaches 10 hours a day on average. In March temperatures may vary between 8 °C (46 °F) and 18 °C (64 °F), and between 13 °C (55 °F) and 24 °C (75 °F) in May. However, it is common for temperatures to soar even as early as April with record temperatures reaching 40 °C (104 °F). In summer, rain is completely absent and the sunlight is at a maximum. The average temperatures in the summer months of June, July, August, and September are very high. Sea breezes may mitigate the heat, but sometimes the sirocco winds reverse the trend. In autumn, it begins to rain, often with short thunderstorms, which can sometimes cause flash floods or even flood some parts of the city. The month of November marks a break in the general heat with average temperatures ranging from 11 °C (52 °F) to 20 °C (68 °F).
| Climate data for Tunis | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 25.2 (77.4) |
29.8 (85.6) |
35.2 (95.4) |
33.0 (91.4) |
39.0 (102.2) |
45.2 (113.4) |
46.7 (116.1) |
46.8 (116.2) |
44.4 (111.9) |
36.9 (98.4) |
31.6 (88.9) |
25.9 (78.6) |
46.8 (116.2) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 15.7 (60.3) |
16.5 (61.7) |
18.1 (64.6) |
20.7 (69.3) |
24.9 (76.8) |
29.0 (84.2) |
32.6 (90.7) |
32.7 (90.9) |
29.7 (85.5) |
25.2 (77.4) |
20.5 (68.9) |
16.7 (62.1) |
23.52 (74.34) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 11.5 (52.7) |
12.0 (53.6) |
13.2 (55.8) |
15.6 (60.1) |
19.3 (66.7) |
23.2 (73.8) |
26.3 (79.3) |
26.8 (80.2) |
24.4 (75.9) |
20.4 (68.7) |
15.9 (60.6) |
12.5 (54.5) |
18.43 (65.17) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 7.2 (45.0) |
7.4 (45.3) |
8.3 (46.9) |
10.4 (50.7) |
13.7 (56.7) |
17.3 (63.1) |
20.0 (68.0) |
20.8 (69.4) |
19.0 (66.2) |
15.5 (59.9) |
11.3 (52.3) |
8.2 (46.8) |
13.26 (55.87) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −1.7 (28.9) |
−1 (30.2) |
0.4 (32.7) |
2.6 (36.7) |
5.9 (42.6) |
9.6 (49.3) |
12.9 (55.2) |
13.4 (56.1) |
12.1 (53.8) |
5.5 (41.9) |
2.4 (36.3) |
−0.4 (31.3) |
−1.7 (28.9) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 59.3 (2.335) |
57.0 (2.244) |
47.2 (1.858) |
38.0 (1.496) |
22.6 (0.89) |
10.4 (0.409) |
3.1 (0.122) |
7.1 (0.28) |
32.5 (1.28) |
65.5 (2.579) |
56.0 (2.205) |
66.8 (2.63) |
465.5 (18.327) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 65 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 145.7 | 165.3 | 198.4 | 225.0 | 282.1 | 309.0 | 356.5 | 328.6 | 258.0 | 217.0 | 174.0 | 148.8 | 2,808.4 |
| Source #1: World Meteorological Organization, Hong Kong Observatory for data of avg. precipitation days and sunshine hours | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: NOAA (extremes) | |||||||||||||
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Famous quotes containing the word climate:
“Nobody is so constituted as to be able to live everywhere and anywhere; and he who has great duties to perform, which lay claim to all his strength, has, in this respect, a very limited choice. The influence of climate upon the bodily functions ... extends so far, that a blunder in the choice of locality and climate is able not only to alienate a man from his actual duty, but also to withhold it from him altogether, so that he never even comes face to face with it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)