Jordan
Jordan Geography & Climate
Geography
Jordan covers about 89,000 square kilometres, most of it desert, and it is almost landlocked — its only coastline is a 26-kilometre stretch on the Gulf of Aqaba at the head of the Red Sea.
The Rift Valley
The western edge of the country runs along the Jordan Rift, part of the Great Rift system. It holds the Jordan river, the Dead Sea at around 430 metres below sea level — the lowest exposed land on the planet, and about ten times as saline as the ocean — and, further south, the Wadi Araba running down to Aqaba.
The highlands
A north–south spine of hills above the rift, between 600 and 1,500 metres, holds Amman, Madaba, Kerak and Petra along with almost all the rainfall, the farmland and the population. Snow falls here most winters.
The desert
East and south, the badia covers around four fifths of the country: basalt in the north-east, limestone and sandstone in the south, and at Wadi Rum a landscape of sandstone and granite towers rising several hundred metres out of red sand, UNESCO-listed for both its geology and its rock inscriptions.
Canyons
Rivers cutting west into the rift have carved deep gorges — Wadi Mujib drops from the highlands to the Dead Sea within a few kilometres and is the lowest nature reserve on earth.
Water
Jordan is among the two or three most water-scarce countries in the world. The Dead Sea is falling by more than a metre a year, leaving sinkholes along its shore, and upstream extraction from the Jordan river is the main reason.
Climate Patterns
Jordan’s climate divides by altitude more than by latitude, and the range within a single short drive is startling — from snow to swimming weather in under an hour.
The highlands
Amman, Madaba and Petra sit between 700 and 1,100 metres and have a Mediterranean pattern: hot dry summers around 32°C, and cold wet winters that drop close to freezing at night. Snow falls in Amman most years and occasionally closes the city, which surprises visitors who packed for the desert.
The rift and the south
The Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley and Aqaba are far hotter — above 40°C through the summer — and correspondingly mild in winter, which is when Jordanians go there. The Dead Sea is comfortable to swim in year round.
The desert
The badia and Wadi Rum are arid with a very wide daily range: hot by day and genuinely cold at night, including in summer. Anyone camping in Wadi Rum needs warm clothing whatever the month, and in winter it can drop below freezing after dark.
Rain, and flash floods
Almost all rain falls between November and April, and there is little of it — under 100 millimetres a year across most of the country. When it comes it runs off hard ground into the canyons, and flash floods in wadis have killed people, including at Petra, which is closed when the forecast requires it. Never enter a canyon when rain is forecast anywhere upstream.
The khamsin
A hot, dust-laden wind off the desert in spring and autumn, raising temperatures sharply and cutting visibility for a day or two.