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The driest places in Africa year-round: ranked by rainfall

Esna tops the list at 0.1 mm averaged across the year. Ranked from 1991–2020 climate normals across 50 destinations in Africa.

Top three averaged across all twelve months: Esna (0.1 mm) , Kom Ombo (0.2 mm) , Girga (0.3 mm) . Between first and 50th place the rainfall differs by 16 mm.

# Destination Country Rainfall Avg high Avg low Rainfall Wet days Sunshine Sea temp
1 Esna Egypt 0.1 mm 32 °C 19 °C 0 mm 0 349 h –
2 Kom Ombo Egypt 0.2 mm 34 °C 19 °C 0 mm 0 349 h –
3 Girga Egypt 0.3 mm 32 °C 17 °C 0 mm 0 349 h –
4 Sohag Egypt 0.4 mm 31 °C 17 °C 0 mm 0 349 h –
5 Mallawī Egypt 0.4 mm 30 °C 17 °C 0 mm 0 348 h –
6 Assiut Egypt 0.4 mm 31 °C 16 °C 0 mm 0 349 h –
7 Minya Egypt 0.4 mm 30 °C 16 °C 0 mm 0 349 h –
8 Hurghada Egypt 0.8 mm 28 °C 21 °C 1 mm 0 349 h 25 °C
9 Al Fayyum Egypt 0.9 mm 29 °C 16 °C 1 mm 0 348 h –
10 6th of October City Egypt 1.2 mm 28 °C 14 °C 1 mm 0 347 h –
11 Cairo Egypt 1.5 mm 29 °C 15 °C 2 mm 0 345 h –
12 Al ‘Āshir min Ramaḑān Egypt 1.7 mm 28 °C 15 °C 2 mm 0 343 h –
13 Suez Egypt 1.8 mm 28 °C 16 °C 2 mm 0 346 h –
14 New Cairo Egypt 1.9 mm 27 °C 14 °C 2 mm 0 344 h –
15 Ismailia Egypt 2.0 mm 28 °C 15 °C 2 mm 1 335 h –
16 Zagazig Egypt 2.3 mm 29 °C 15 °C 2 mm 1 338 h –
17 Ouargla Algeria 3.2 mm 29 °C 16 °C 3 mm 1 339 h –
18 Al Mansurah Egypt 3.6 mm 28 °C 15 °C 4 mm 1 341 h –
19 Port Said Egypt 3.8 mm 25 °C 17 °C 4 mm 1 343 h 22 °C
20 Laayoune Western Sahara 3.8 mm 26 °C 16 °C 4 mm 1 338 h 19 °C
21 Nouakchott Mauritania 4.1 mm 31 °C 21 °C 4 mm 1 338 h 22 °C
22 Kafr ash Shaykh Egypt 4.3 mm 28 °C 15 °C 4 mm 1 341 h –
23 Damanhur Egypt 4.8 mm 27 °C 15 °C 5 mm 1 343 h –
24 Jamestown Saint Helena 4.9 mm 22 °C 21 °C 5 mm 1 338 h 22 °C
25 Marsá Maţrūḩ Egypt 4.9 mm 24 °C 16 °C 5 mm 1 342 h 22 °C
26 Arīsh Egypt 5.0 mm 25 °C 16 °C 5 mm 1 342 h 23 °C
27 Damietta Egypt 5.0 mm 25 °C 17 °C 5 mm 1 343 h 22 °C
28 El Oued Algeria 5.1 mm 27 °C 15 °C 5 mm 1 337 h –
29 Khartoum Sudan 5.4 mm 36 °C 23 °C 5 mm 1 346 h –
30 Al Maţarīyah Egypt 5.8 mm 26 °C 17 °C 6 mm 1 344 h 22 °C
31 Béchar Algeria 6.4 mm 27 °C 15 °C 6 mm 1 344 h –
32 Alexandria Egypt 7.9 mm 24 °C 17 °C 8 mm 2 345 h 22 °C
33 Berbera Somalia 9.4 mm 32 °C 26 °C 9 mm 2 337 h 29 °C
34 Mossamedes Angola 9.7 mm 27 °C 19 °C 10 mm 2 343 h 22 °C
35 Biskra Algeria 10.0 mm 27 °C 15 °C 10 mm 2 334 h –
36 Idkū Egypt 10 mm 25 °C 17 °C 10 mm 2 345 h 22 °C
37 Misratah Libya 10 mm 24 °C 17 °C 10 mm 2 337 h 21 °C
38 El Dibir Somalia 11 mm 31 °C 25 °C 11 mm 2 332 h 28 °C
39 Port Sudan Sudan 11 mm 33 °C 24 °C 11 mm 3 338 h 29 °C
40 Zliten Libya 12 mm 26 °C 16 °C 12 mm 3 336 h 21 °C
41 Kassala Sudan 14 mm 36 °C 23 °C 14 mm 3 339 h –
42 Saint-Louis Senegal 14 mm 29 °C 22 °C 14 mm 2 335 h 23 °C
43 Benghazi Libya 14 mm 24 °C 17 °C 14 mm 3 336 h 21 °C
44 Az Zāwīyah Libya 14 mm 26 °C 16 °C 14 mm 3 333 h 21 °C
45 Wad Medani Sudan 15 mm 37 °C 24 °C 15 mm 3 341 h –
46 Sfax Tunisia 15 mm 24 °C 16 °C 15 mm 3 332 h 21 °C
47 Praia Cabo Verde 15 mm 27 °C 22 °C 15 mm 2 338 h 25 °C
48 Tahoua Niger 15 mm 36 °C 22 °C 15 mm 3 340 h –
49 Tripoli Libya 16 mm 24 °C 17 °C 16 mm 3 334 h 21 °C
50 Kandahār Afghanistan 16 mm 27 °C 11 °C 16 mm 2 339 h –

Averaged across all twelve months, and only for destinations with a full twelve-month series and a published climate page. Download this ranking as CSV.

Month by month

The same ranking for each month of the year:

How this ranking is built

What is ranked
Total precipitation, in mm, averaged across all twelve months, lowest first.
Period
1991–2020 climate normals: the same 30 years for every destination, so the list compares like with like.
Who is included
50 destinations in Africa with a published climate page and a complete twelve-month series. Neighbouring places that share a climate series are shown once.
Ties
Equal values are ordered by fewest wet days.
Sources
ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis via Open-Meteo; sea temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1. Measured values are reproduced unchanged; only the ordering is ours.

Data sources and method

Normal period
1991–2020
Dataset version
era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: ranking order, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.