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Djibouti City, the capital of Djibouti, sits on the Gulf of Tadjoura where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden, on a low, arid coastal plain on the Horn of Africa at approximately 11.59°N, 43.15°E. It has a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) — one of the hottest inhabited places on earth — with extreme year-round heat, very high summer humidity and almost no rain.
Summer, from June to August, is punishingly hot, with highs regularly above 40°C and nights that barely cool. This is when the Kharif, the southwest monsoon, blows warm, moist air off the Indian Ocean, so humidity climbs steeply even though it brings almost no rain — producing an oppressive, dangerous combination of extreme heat and moisture. Hot winds off the nearby Danakil Depression, among the hottest places on the planet, intensify the heat.
The cooler season, from November to March, is the only comfortable stretch, with highs around 28–30°C and pleasant nights near 21–23°C, lower humidity and clear skies. This mild, dry, sunny period is comfortably the best time of year, and what little rain the city receives tends to fall in these transitional months.
Djibouti is extremely dry, receiving less than 200 mm of rain a year, with the heaviest falls coming in the brief intervals between monsoon changes, generally in the cooler months; the summer monsoon brings humidity but almost no rainfall. Sandstorms can sweep the coast, especially in spring. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.
Djibouti City endures some of the most extreme heat of any capital on earth, its summers made especially brutal by the Kharif monsoon, which raises humidity without bringing rain, and by hot desert air spilling from the nearby Danakil Depression, where temperatures can exceed 50°C. Sandstorms and near-total aridity complete a climate of unusual severity.
To follow any single measurement in Djibouti more closely, use our live instruments: the online barometer for atmospheric pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the hygrometer for humidity, the anemometer for wind speed, the wind vane for wind direction, and the rain gauge for rainfall.