Climate of the UAE

Two seasons

The UAE maintains a desert climate. It is warm and sunny in winter and hot and humid in summer, and generally cooler in the Hajar Mountains along the eastern border.²

Source: National Centre of Meteorology: Annual Climate Assessment 2022¹

Temperatures in figures

• The annual mean air temperature in 2022 was 28.4°C, 0.4°C above the 2003 to 2022 average.
• August 2022 had the highest monthly mean, 35.7°C; January the lowest, 19.1°C.
• The hottest day of 2022 reached 51°C at Sweihan, in the Al Ain area, on 9 August.
• The coldest reading was -0.1°C on Jebel Jais in Ras Al Khaimah on 21 January 2022, followed by frost the next morning.
• The warmest month since records in the series began in 2003 was July 2017, with a mean of 37.2°C.

Source: National Centre of Meteorology: Annual Climate Assessment 2022¹

Rain, storms and fog

Rain is scarce and falls mostly in winter. In 2022 the country received a national mean of 56.2 mm, 29% below the 2003 to 2022 average, and no rain was recorded in March or May. Fog is common on winter mornings and in October: October 2022 had 26 foggy or misty days, and visibility at several airports fell below 100 metres on 18 to 20 October.¹

Storms can still be severe. On 16 April 2024 the UAE had its heaviest rainfall since climate records began in 1949, the National Centre of Meteorology said, with 254.8 mm at Khatm Al Shakla in Al Ain in less than 24 hours.³

Check the National Centre of Meteorology warnings before driving in fog or heavy rain, and allow for delays to flights and meetings.

The summer midday break

Under the Occupational Heat Stress Prevention Policy of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, work under the sun and in open places is banned from 12:30 to 3:00 pm between 15 June and 15 September every year. Employers must provide shade, cooling, drinking water and first aid. Some jobs are exempt for technical reasons.⁴

Construction, logistics and landscaping schedules should allow for the midday break in summer.

Landscape

The UAE is largely arid, with sand deserts and dunes, oases of date palms, rocky mountains and dry valleys that fill with brooks and pools when it rains, as well as marshes, mangroves and salt plains. The desert stretches from the Gulf coast to the Empty Quarter.⁵