Winter Weather in Nouakchott Mauritania

Daily high temperatures are around 85°F, rarely falling below 75°F or exceeding 97°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 83°F on January 13.

Daily low temperatures are around 62°F, rarely falling below 53°F or exceeding 70°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 60°F on January 12.

For reference, on October 13, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Nouakchott typically range from 76°F to 96°F, while on January 12, the coldest day of the year, they range from 60°F to 83°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average winter temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Villa Juárez, Mexico (5,733 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Nouakchott (view comparison).

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The winter in Nouakchott experiences very rapidly decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 50% to 31%.

The clearest day of the winter is February 28, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 69% of the time.

For reference, on September 15, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 56%, while on June 11, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 84%.

Rainfall

To show variation within the season and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during the winter in Nouakchott is essentially constant, remaining about 0.0 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 0.1 inches or falling below -0.0 inches.

Over the course of the winter in Nouakchott, the length of the day is increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 39 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 26 seconds, and weekly increase of 3 minutes, 5 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 21, with 11 hours, 3 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 28, with 11 hours, 47 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the winter in Nouakchott is 7:19 AM on December 1 and the latest sunrise is 19 minutes later at 7:38 AM on January 18.

The earliest sunset is 6:26 PM on December 1 and the latest sunset is 43 minutes later at 7:09 PM on February 28.

Daylight saving time is not observed in Nouakchott during 2024.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 6:29 AM and sets 13 hours, 13 minutes later, at 7:42 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:30 AM and sets 11 hours, 3 minutes later, at 6:33 PM.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for the winter of 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Nouakchott is gradually decreasing during the winter, falling from 6% to 2% over the course of the season.

The lowest chance of a muggy day during the winter is 0% on January 24.

For reference, on August 4, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 97% of the time, while on January 24, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Nouakchott is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 10.8 miles per hour to 11.6 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on May 13, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 13.2 miles per hour, while on September 15, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.3 miles per hour.

The wind direction in Nouakchott during the winter is predominantly out of the north from December 1 to December 5 and from January 27 to February 28 and the east from December 5 to January 27.

Nouakchott is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature in Nouakchott is decreasing during the winter, falling by 6°F, from 71°F to 65°F, over the course of the season.

The lowest average surface water temperature during the winter is 65°F on February 18.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

Temperatures in Nouakchott are sufficiently warm year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days in Nouakchott are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 7,780°F, from 9,014°F to 1,235°F, over the course of the season.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Nouakchott is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.7 kWh, from 4.6 kWh to 6.3 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 4.5 kWh on December 20.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Nouakchott are 18.086 deg latitude, -15.979 deg longitude, and 33 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Nouakchott is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 79 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 16 feet. Within 10 miles is essentially flat (135 feet). Within 50 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (351 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Nouakchott is covered by bare soil (88%) and grassland (12%), within 10 miles by bare soil (68%) and water (29%), and within 50 miles by bare soil (44%) and water (43%).