The climate in Tunisia

Climate zone: Subtropics of the northern hemisphere

In 7 months the average temperatures are over 25 degrees. Pleasant water temperatures of up to 26 degrees even invite you to take a bath in the warm season. Due to the warmer temperatures the best time for traveling is from July to August. Nearly unattractive for tourists are the cold months from November to March.

› Duration of daylight and sunshine in Tunisia

Temperature records of the last 71 years

The hottest temperature measured from 1949 to October 2020 was reported by the Kairouan weather station. In July 2018 the record temperature of 48.3 °C was reported here. The hottest summer from July to September, based on all 4 weather stations in Tunisia below 310 metres altitude, was recorded in 2012 with an average temperature of 29.2 °C. This average temperature will normally be measured every 4 to 6 hours, thus also including the nights. Normally, this value is 27.1 degrees Celsius. The average maximum daily temperature at that time was 35.4 °C.

The coldest day in these 71 years was reported by the weather station Jendouba. Here the temperature dropped to -3.8 °C in January 2002. Jendouba lies at an altitude of 144 meters above sea level. The coldest winter (January to March) was in 1953 with an average temperature of 10.5 °C. In Tunisia, it is usual to have about 2.1 degrees more at 12.6 °C for this three-month period.

Long-term development of temperatures from 1991 - 2019

In contrast to single record values, a long-term development cannot simply be brought about by all weather stations in the country. Both the number and the locations are constantly changing. A simply calculated average value would give a falsified result. If several measuring stations in particularly cold mountain or coastal regions are added in one year, the average would already decrease as a result of this alone. If a station fails during the summer or winter months, it does not provide any values and falsifies the average again. The subsequent long-term development was therefore reduced to only 3 measuring points in order to have actually comparable data over as long a period as possible.

In the years 1991 to 2019 there were only these 3 weather stations in the whole country, which reported continuous temperature values (Tunis, Kairouan, Gafsa). From these weather reports we have created a long-term development that shows the monthly average temperatures. The hottest month in this entire period was 1999 with 32.1 °C. 1992 was the coldest month with an average temperature of 9.4 °C.

The average annual temperature was about 19.5 °C in the years after 1991 and about 20.7 °C in the last years before 2019. So in less than 29 years it has increased by about 1.2 °C. This trend only applies to the selected 3 weather stations in Tunisia. A considerably more comprehensive evaluation of the global warming has been provided separately.




More detailed information on global warming with a view by continent can also be found on our topic page on climate change. Data basis: German Weather Service, individual values averaged and supplemented by own elements.