Weather & wind
Essaouira in January: weather, wind and sea
January in Essaouira: 6.7 hours of sunshine a day, 5 rainy days and 8 windy days above 15 knots.
Climate normals · 1991–2020
- Temperature
- 11–18 °C
- Mean wind (daily max)
- 12 kn · NE
- Days of wind > 15 kn
- 8
- Sunshine
- 6.7 h/day (1961–1990)
- Rainy days
- 5 · 48.5 mm
Source: WMO/OMM 1991–2020 (DMN, station 60220) · DWD 1961–1990 · Open-Meteo ERA5/IFS (CC BY 4.0)
Temperatures in January
In January, the mean high is 18.4 °C and the mean low 11.1 °C, a gap of 7.3 °C between afternoon and night. It is the coolest month of the year, 2.2 °C below the year’s average high (20.6 °C). These are the coolest nights of the year. The thermometer climbs on either side: 19.4 °C in December, 18.7 °C in February. We suggest a warm jacket for the evening, and asking your riad whether it is heated.
Wind in January
The wind passes 15 knots on about 8 days out of 31, against 12 days in an average month. December has 8 days, February 10. It blows mostly from the north-east, and its daily peak averages 12 knots. These figures are our own count over thirty years of modelled weather data (the ERA5 reanalysis, then the ECMWF’s IFS model from 2017), 1991 to 2020. Over 2011–2020, the Essaouira station’s hourly reports count 10 days at 15 knots or more in the month. The two sources differ here by more than 2 days. Out of season for kitesurfing: a short stay can miss the wind entirely.
Rain and sunshine in January
Expect about 5 days with 1 mm of rain or more, 48.5 mm in all. That is 16% of the year’s 299.7 mm. December gets 55.7 mm, February 37.3 mm.
The sun shines for 6.7 hours a day on average, from the station’s 1961–1990 records. That is 65% of the 10 hours or so the sun is up. The year averages 8.2 hours a day.