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Rabat – The year 2020 was the hottest year ever recorded in Morocco, hotter than 2017 and 2010 respectively, with a national annual average temperature anomaly of +1.4 °C compared to the climatological average over the period 1981-2010, the Directorate General of Meteorology said in a press release carried by Morocco State media MAP.
In 2020, Morocco experienced a warm year with higher than average annual temperatures and a deficit of rainfall across the country.
The driest month was February while July was an extremely hot month with record breaking temperatures in several cities.
In Fez, February and July’s monthly maximum temperatures of 23.78 °C and 40.4 °C, respectively, increased by +2.24 °C and +2.15 °C compared to previous records.
February was particularly warm in Mohammedia, with the lowest temperature recorded at 22.28 °C.
Total annual rainfall recorded a deficit across the whole country , above a 50% deficit north of Marrakech and in Souss-Massa and the Anti-Atlas regions, while it hardly rained in the southern provinces.
2020 was one of four driest years since 1981.
The crop year from September 2019 to August 2020, experienced a rainfall deficit of around -33% that impacted national cereal production by -39% compared to 2018-2019 and a decrease of -57% compared to an average year since 2008.
Morocco has experienced several extreme weather events that have caused damage. Among these phenomena were summer heat waves, heavy thunderstorms, strong winds with gusts of 100 km/h, and hailstorms that destroyed 900 hectares of crops in the region of Saiss and the Middle Atlas, on June 6.
Morocco also experienced two extreme weather conditions, on October 29 and December 5, 2020, where 10 meter waves caused significant damage along the Atlantic coast.
MWN With MAP
