Climate

Within Libya as many as five different climatic zones have been recognised, but the dominant climatic influences are Mediterranean and Saharan. In most of the coastal lowland, the climate is Mediterranean, with warm summers and mild winters. Rainfall is scanty. The ghibli, a hot, dry desert wind, can change temperatures by 17-22°C (30-40°F) in both summer and winter.

The weather is cooler in the highlands, and frosts occur at maximum elevations. In the desert interior, the climate has very hot summers and extreme diurnal temperature ranges. The highest official temperature ever recorded was on September 13th, 1922 at Al 'Aziziyah, of 57.8°C (136°F).

Less than 2% of the national territory receives enough rainfall for settled agriculture, the heaviest precipitation occurring in the Jabal al Akhdar zone of Cyrenaica, where annual rainfall of 40-60 cm is recorded. All other areas of the country receive less than 40 cm, and in the Sahara 5 cm or less occurs. Rainfall is often erratic, and a pronounced drought may extend over two seasons.