Somaliland Climate 101

Today, I asked the question which is what is the best city in Somaliland in terms of weather? I thought it must be either Sheikh or Daalo mountains but it's neither one of them.

Contrary to what I thought, we have 4 climates in Somaliland:

  • Hot desert climates (BWh)
  • Cold semi-arid climates (BSk)
  • Subtropical highland oceanic climate (Cwb)
  • Hot semi-arid climates (BSh)

This is called Köppen climate classification. It is an awesome system that helps you think more clearly about the weather conditions anywhere in the world. It lets you say for example Melbourne has about the same weather as London! Go figure.

Now someone has done an amazing job of providing all the classification on a global scale. So, we have this resource to find any weather conditions in every region in Somaliland. And without further ado, here are my findings:

city Region Annual rain mm high low avg Similar to Climate Code Climate
Magaala Qalooc Awdal 670.00 27.70 7.70 19.10 Addis Abeba Cwb  Subtropical highland oceanic climate
burco Togdheer 224.00 31.70 12.70 22.90 Phoenix  BWh  Hot desert climates
zaylac Awdal 82.00 40.00 22.00 30.00 Jeddah BWh  Hot desert climates
badhan Sanag 137.00 31.10 11.70 22.30 Phoenix  BWh Hot desert climates
Lan aanood Sool 132.00 32.30 12.70 24.20 LAS VEGAS BWh Hot desert climates
Berbera Saxil 11.00 42.00 20.50 30.20 Jeddah BWh Hot desert climates
GUDAADO Sanaag 482.00 22.30 3.70 14.60 Aleppo BSk  Cold semi-arid climates
Celaya Sanaag 442.00 23.80 5.00 15.70 Aleppo BSk  Cold semi-arid climates
FADHI WEYN Togdheer 585.00 25.20 5.20 16.40 Aleppo BSk Cold semi-arid climates
Erigavo Sanaag 412.00 25.00 6.70 17.20 Aleppo BSk Cold semi-arid climates
kala baydh Gabiley  598.00 28.50 8.70 20.00 SAN BERNARDINO BSh  Hot semi-arid climates
Borama Awdal 548.00 30.00 9.70 20.90 SAN BERNARDINO BSh  Hot semi-arid climates
allahbaday Gabiley  547.00 29.50 9.60 20.90 SAN BERNARDINO BSh  Hot semi-arid climates
Gebiley Gebiley 532.00 29.40 9.80 20.80 SAN BERNARDINO BSh  Hot semi-arid climates
Faraweyne Maroodijeex 499.00 30.00 10.20 21.40 SAN BERNARDINO BSh  Hot semi-arid climates
Gadhka Yagolka Maroodijeex 498.00 29.80 10.00 20.80 SAN BERNARDINO BSh  Hot semi-arid climates
Wado baris Maroodijeex 472.00 30.20 10.40 21.50 SAN BERNARDINO BSh  Hot semi-arid climates
Sheekh Togdheer 466.00 28.60 7.90 19.10 SAN BERNARDINO BSh  Hot semi-arid climates
hargeisa Maroodijeex 409.00 31.30 11.70 22.00 SAN BERNARDINO BSh  Hot semi-arid climates
Jufa Gabiley  630.00 28.30 8.20 19.50 SAN BERNARDINO BSh Hot semi-arid climates
Cad-Madooni Gabiley  628.00 28.40 8.40 19.70 SAN BERNARDINO BSh Hot semi-arid climates
Dilla Awdal 608.00 28.80 8.60 19.90 SAN BERNARDINO BSh Hot semi-arid climates
ARROBERAR Gabiley  604.00 28.40 8.60 19.80 SAN BERNARDINO BSh Hot semi-arid climates
Gacan Libah Maroodijeex 531.00 27.40 7.10 18.10 SAN BERNARDINO BSh Hot semi-arid climates

Best Weather in Somaliland goes to Magaala Qalooc (the twisted city) it is located in Awdal region close to the Ethiopian border. I have never heard of it before but defiantly on the list of places to visit. It as the same weather as Addis Abeba and it receives the biggest amount of rain in the country.

Second Best goes to Fadhi Weyn area in togdheer region next to Shiekh city. It has similar weather to Aleppo but double the amount of rainfall. In this category also we have Gudaado, Celaya and Erigavo. All of these are near Mount Shimbiris in Sanag region - the highest point in Somaliland. While Gudaado has relatively cooler weather, the difference in annual rain level is so huge that Fadhi Weyn aka the Big Seat deserves to be the second best weather in the country.

The third place goes to western regions. It includes Hargeisa, Gabliey and Borama. The rainfall and temperature are quite similar. It is hard for me to choose between Gacan Libah and Jufa. They are very different land types so I feel like comparing apples to oranges. So for this group, the winner could be any of these wonderful areas. Yea, these cities have a similar climate to San Bernardino in California (with double amount of rains)

Last but not least, we have the hot desert areas. The city of Burco has relatively better conditions in terms of temperate and rainfall while Berbera feels like hell on earth. Funny enough, Las Vegas and Las Anod share parts of the name and the weather as well.