Morocco records highest temperatures in last 40 years

Morocco recorded the highest temperature rates in 2022 since 1981, with +1.63°C hotter than the norm from 1981 to 2010.

The Directorate General of Meteorology (DGM) recently released its 2022 annual climate summary for Morocco, which showed that normal temperatures were well-over average for 80% days of the year, breaking 4 month to month normal temperature records.

Rain in Morocco recorded a 27% drop last year, making it the 12th driest year on record. Furthermore, the last 4 years marked the driest four years in a row since the 60’s with a precipitation shortage of 32%.

The 2021–2022 agricultural season is also the driest in approximately 40 years, due to “extreme drought and an unusual spike in temperatures, particularly throughout the crucial stages of the grain cycle,” says the report. 

The average national annual temperature in 2022, ranging between 4°C and 26°C, was greater than the normal degrees recorded between 1981 and 2010 throughout Morocco.

Morocco experienced 25 extreme weather events in 2022, that authorities issued warnings for. These intense weather phenomena included heavy thunderstorms (44%), heat waves (20%), snowfall (20%) and strong winds (16%).

Mediterranean countries in general including Morocco recorded unprecedented and unusually high temperatures during the last week of April this year, echoing fears that last year’s climatic anomalies could become the new norm due to advancing climate change.

10 scientists from Morocco, France, the US, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom came together to analyze just how much human-induced climate change has led to reoccurring heatwaves.

A study recently published by “World Weather Attribution” reveals that “in Morocco, several April records have been broken across the country and temperatures exceeded 41°C in some cities such as Sidi-Slimane, Marrakech, Taroudant.”

The impact of these record-shattering temperatures in those regions only exacerbated the repercussions of a persisting drought and water scarcity.

The natural hazard also contributes to the country’s mortality rates, according to the same analysis, “Every year, an average of 262, 250, and 116 people die from heat-related illness in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, respectively.”