This report describes the historical weather record at the Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport (Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt) during 2012. This station has records back to September 1997.
Sharm El Sheikh has a hot desert climate. The area within 25 mi of this station is covered by oceans and seas (83%) and lakes and rivers (17%)
Daylight saving time (DST) was not observed at Sharm El Sheikh during 2012.
2012 was a leap year and thus has 366 days rather than the normal 365. Leap years occur every fourth year and the extra day is always February 29th. In 2012 February 29th falls on a Wednesday.
The summer and winter solstices and the spring and fall equinoxes mark the passing of the seasons. They fall on nearly the same day each year, with differences of a day or two depending on the year. In 2012 they occurred on:
|Spring Equinox||Tuesday, 20 March 2012.|
|Summer Solstice||Wednesday, 20 June 2012.|
|Fall Equinox||Saturday, 22 September 2012.|
|Winter Solstice||Friday, 21 December 2012.|
The hottest day of 2012 was June 17, with a high temperature of 109°F. For reference, on that day the average high temperature is 99°F and the high temperature exceeds 104°F only one day in ten. The hottest month of 2012 was July with an average daily high temperature of 102°F.
Relative to the average, the hottest day was November 2. The high temperature that day was 99°F, compared to the average of 85°F, a difference of 13°F. In relative terms the warmest month was October, with an average high temperature of 97°F, compared to an typical value of 90°F.
The longest warm spell was from September 24 to November 12, constituting 50 consecutive days with warmer than average high temperatures. The month of October had the largest fraction of warmer than average days with 100% days with higher than average high temperatures.
The coldest day of 2012 was January 22, with a low temperature of 48°F. For reference, on that day the average low temperature is 57°F and the low temperature drops below 53°F only one day in ten. The coldest month of 2012 was January with an average daily low temperature of 55°F.
Relative to the average, the coldest day was April 1. The low temperature that day was 54°F, compared to the average of 66°F, a difference of 13°F. In relative terms the coldest month was January, with an average low temperature of 55°F, compared to an typical value of 57°F.
The longest cold spell was from January 1 to January 18, constituting 18 consecutive days with cooler than average low temperatures. The month of January had the largest fraction of cooler than average days with 81% days with lower than average low temperatures.
The clearest month of 2012 was March, with 26% of days being more clear than cloudy. The longest spell of clear weather was from February 6 to February 10, constituting 5 consecutive days that were clearer than they were cloudy.
The cloudiest month of 2012 was November, with 7% of days being more cloudy than clear.
Either snow is exceptionally rare at this location or this station did not reliably report it during 2012.
Humidity is an important factor in determining how weather conditions feel to a person experiencing them. Hot and humid days feel even hotter than hot and dry days because the high level of water content in humid air discourages the evaporation of sweat from a person's skin.
When reading the graph below, keep in mind that the hottest part of the day tends to be the least humid, so the daily low (brown) traces are more relevant for understanding daytime comfort than the daily high (blue) traces, which typically occur during the night. Applying that observation, the least humid month of 2012 was June with an average daily low humidity of 12%, and the most humid month was January with an average daily low humidity of 27%.
But it is important to keep in mind that humidity does not tell the whole picture and the dew point is often a better measure of how comfortable a person will find a given set of weather conditions. Please see the next section for continued discussion of this point.
Dew point is the temperature below which water vapor will condense into liquid water. It is therefore also related to the rate of evaporation of liquid water. Since the evaporation of sweat is an important cooling mechanism for the human body, the dew point is an important measurement for understanding how dry, comfortable, or humid a given set of weather conditions will feel.
Generally speaking, dew points below 50°F will feel a bit dry to some people, but comfortable to people accustomed to dry conditions; dew points from 50°F to 68°F are fairly comfortable to most people, and dew points above 68°F are increasingly uncomfortable, becoming oppressive around 77°F.
To take some examples, and basing our categorization on the daily high dew point in 2012, January had 27 dry days, 4 comfortable days, and no humid days; April had 4 dry days, 25 comfortable days, and no humid days; July had no dry days, 17 comfortable days, and 14 humid days; and October had no dry days, 25 comfortable days, and 6 humid days.
The highest sustained wind speed was 29 mph, occurring on March 17; the highest daily mean wind speed was 21 mph (March 17); and the highest wind gust speed was 37 mph (February 29).
The windiest month was May, with an average wind speed of 11 mph. The least windy month was January, with an average wind speed of 7 mph.
Visibility is the maximum distance at which a given reference object or light can be clearly discerned. In the United States, visibilities that are greater than or equal to 10 miles are typically reported as 10 miles.
The day of 2012 with the lowest average visibility was April 19, with an average visibility of 0.7 mi. The month with the lowest average visibility was February, with an average visibility of 5.5 mi. With an average visibility of 6.4 mi, the month of November had the highest average visibility.
The cloud ceiling is the altitude of the lowest layer of clouds that are at categorized as broken (mostly cloudy) or overcast (cloudy). If no such cloud layer exists then the ceiling is unlimited and no value is reported.
The day of 2012 with the lowest average cloud ceiling was February 21, with an average cloud ceiling of 2461'. The month with the lowest average cloud ceiling was February, with an average cloud ceiling of 5413'. The month of December has the highest average cloud ceiling, with an average cloud ceiling of 12213'.