Sudan Weather and Climate
After the independence of South Sudan, Sudan with its 1,886,068 km² of land area has lost its status of being the largest country in Africa and is now in third place after Algeria and the DR Congo. In addition to its 853 km long coastline to the Red Sea in the north-west of the country, seven states share a border with Sudan – Egypt and Libya in the north, Chad in the west, the Central African Republic and South Sudan in the south and Ethiopia and Eritrea in the east.
According to COUNTRYAAH, the exact borders with South Sudan have not yet been determined. Numerous border regions are still controversial, especially the still unexplained affiliation of the oil-rich Abyei province. The region of Kafia Kingi, located in the triangle formed by the Central African Republic, is also rich in mineral resources. It was assigned to South Sudan after the peace agreement of 2005, but is permanently occupied by Sudan.
Since its independence in 1956, Sudan and Egypt have been fighting over the belonging of the area of the Hala’ib triangleon the Red Sea that is administered by Egypt. Occasional disputes, including over the mining of natural resources, caused the border dispute to strain relations from time to time, and recent developments document the sensitivity of both countries. Egypt and Sudan both refer to different contracts to draw borders with the former colonial power Great Britain, which each include the Hala’ib triangle in their own state borders, but assign the smaller and more eastern area of Bir Tawil to the other state. Oddly enough, Bir Tawil isthus the only land area on earth outside of Antarctica that is not claimed by any state.
- Abbreviation Finder: Check to see national geography, brief history, society description, domestic politics, economy overview, and a list of widely used acronyms about Sudan.
Climate
The largely precipitation-free and vegetation-free desert areas in the north of the country have daytime temperatures of up to 50 ºC, and it cools down very strongly at night. Characteristic for these regions are haboubs, dust and sand storms that occur from May to September, which also penetrate as far as Khartoum and can reach heights of up to 900 m.
In the regions of the thorn bush savannah that adjoin to the south and also in the capital Khartoum, there is a short rainy season between June and September with rainfall levels of normally less than 200 mm, which extends to the dry savannas that extend towards the south and south-west of the country prolonged in time, mostly has 400-500 mm of precipitation in the annual average and enables the growth of high grass with acacias and isolated baobabs. The southern regions of Darfur have the highest rainfall. Here, but also in other parts of the country such as in the south-eastern areas of the country or in Khartoum, there can be significant flooding in the rainy season. In summer 2018 the states of Kassala and Westkordofan were hardest hit, in August 2019 Kassala again, but also Al Gezira, White Nile State and Khartoum State. In 2020 were mainly northern Darfur and the southern state of Sennar. affected. The entire country was declared a disaster area. At 17.5 m, the Nile had reached the highest water level in 100 years. The effects of heavy rainfalls in cities are exacerbated by the lack of sewage systems.
