The climate of Damascus
BSk Cold semi-arid (steppe). Dry grassland with cool or cold conditions. Steppe and prairie country. Too dry for forest, with big temperature swings between summer and winter in many places.
Damascus is north of the equator, so summer falls in June to August and winter in December to February. The 1901 to 1930 map put Damascus in Csa (hot-summer mediterranean), so its zone is different from a century ago.
Damascus: then, now and by 2100
| Map | Climate zone | Compared with now |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 to 1930 | Csa Hot-summer Mediterranean | Different from now |
| 1991 to 2020 (now) | BSk Cold semi-arid (steppe) | - |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP1-2.6 (low emissions) | BSh Hot semi-arid (steppe) | Different from now |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP2-4.5 (middle of the road) | BSh Hot semi-arid (steppe) | Different from now |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP5-8.5 (high emissions) | BSh Hot semi-arid (steppe) | Different from now |
The 2071 to 2099 rows are model projections under three emissions scenarios, not forecasts. The 1901 to 1930 row is a reconstruction. All come from Beck et al. (2023).
Under the middle-of-the-road scenario (SSP2-4.5), the model puts Damascus in BSh (hot semi-arid (steppe)) in 2071 to 2099, instead of BSk now. Under the high-emissions scenario (SSP5-8.5) it is BSh (hot semi-arid (steppe)).
Cities with the same climate as Damascus
Other big cities that are BSk (cold semi-arid (steppe)) in 1991 to 2020, at most two per country:
Where Damascus's future climate exists today
In the SSP2-4.5 map for 2071 to 2099, Damascus is BSh. These cities are BSh in 1991 to 2020, so they give a rough idea of the future climate (the real conditions would differ in many ways).
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Population of Damascus from GeoNames: 1,569,394 (rank 308 in our list of 1,000). Climate data: Beck et al. (2023), CC BY 4.0. Data sources and licences.