Geography

Most of Saudi Arabia is desert. The central region consists of an eroded plateau, mostly arid and hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The western region is mountainous, except for the coastal plain bordering the Red Sea such as the Jeddah area.

Jeddah borders the Red Sea from the west and the Al-Sarawat Mountains from the east. It has no rivers or valleys but it includes Sharm Ob’hur which connect the Red Sea to the other end of the city. Sharm of Salman (Also called Gulf of Salman) borders the city from north.

[edit] Climate

Unlike other Saudi Arabian cities, Jeddah retains its warm temperature in winter, which can range from +15 °C (59 °F) at midnight to +25 °C (77 °F) in the afternoon. Summer temperatures are considered very hot and break the +40 °C (104 °F) mark in the afternoon dropping to +30 °C (86 °F) in the evening. Rainfall in Jeddah is generally sparse, and usually occurs in small amounts in December. There have also been several notable incidents of hail. Heavy thunderstorms are not uncommon in winter. (The thunderstorm of December 2008 being the largest in recent memory, with rain reaching around 3 inches.) The lowest temperature ever recorded in Jeddah was 3°C (37.4°F) in the winter of 1995.

Some unusual events often happen during the year, such as dust storms in summer, coming from the Arabian Peninsula’s deserts or from North Africa.