Climatology
This page presents Tunisia's climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown list.
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.
Tunisia’s climate varies due to the country’s diverse geography, which can be divided into three regions. The northern mountainous region has a Mediterranean climate with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. The south has a hot, dry, and semiarid climate as it enters the Sahara Desert, while the eastern coastal border has an arid steppe climate. Rainfall also varies by region, with average annual rainfall at 158 mm per year for the whole country, but less than 100 mm annually in the south and over 700 mm annually in the north. Historically, average temperatures likewise vary seasonally and regionally; in the northern coastal region temperature ranges from a low of 10°C in the winter months (December to February) to a high of 27°C in the summer months (June-August), while in the central western and southern regions temperature ranges from a winter low of 11°C to a summer high of 32°C. In the southern semiarid to arid areas, drought can be frequent, while the coastal region experiences floods.
- During the last 30 years, temperature increased by an average of 0.4°C per decade.
- Mean average temperature rose by 1.4°C in the twentieth century.
- While in aggregate no significant change in annual precipitation was observed from 1901 to 2013, over the past 30 years, average annual precipitation has decreased by about 3%.
- Autumn precipitation has increased in the northern and central regions of the country, while the west has experienced higher than average rainfall of up to 25 mm per month compared to less than 2 mm per month on average in other parts of the country.
This section provides the options to visualize historical climate data for different timeframes via map and annual cycle chart.