Climate
Zaragoza has a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk), as it lies in a wide basin entirely surrounded by mountains, but shows characteristics of a Continental Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) such as drier summers and winters, and wetter springs and autumns. The average precipitation is a scanty 310 mm with abundant sunny days, and the rainfall centers in spring. There is drought in summer. The temperatures are high in summer reaching up to 40 °C (104 °F).
In winter the temperatures are low (usually 0 to 10 °C) either because of the fog (about 20 days from November to January) or a cold and dry wind blowing from the NW, the Cierzo (related to other northerly winds such as the Mistral in the SE of France) on clear days. Frost is common and there is sporadic snowfall.
| Climate data for Zaragoza | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 10.3 (50.5) |
13.3 (55.9) |
16.6 (61.9) |
18.7 (65.7) |
23.2 (73.8) |
27.7 (81.9) |
31.5 (88.7) |
31.0 (87.8) |
26.7 (80.1) |
20.7 (69.3) |
14.3 (57.7) |
10.7 (51.3) |
20.4 (68.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 6.4 (43.5) |
8.4 (47.1) |
10.9 (51.6) |
13.0 (55.4) |
17.2 (63.0) |
21.3 (70.3) |
24.5 (76.1) |
24.4 (75.9) |
20.7 (69.3) |
15.5 (59.9) |
10.0 (50.0) |
7.1 (44.8) |
15.0 (59.0) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 2.4 (36.3) |
3.5 (38.3) |
5.2 (41.4) |
7.4 (45.3) |
11.2 (52.2) |
14.8 (58.6) |
17.6 (63.7) |
17.8 (64.0) |
14.7 (58.5) |
10.3 (50.5) |
5.8 (42.4) |
3.5 (38.3) |
9.5 (49.1) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 22 (0.87) |
20 (0.79) |
20 (0.79) |
35 (1.38) |
44 (1.73) |
31 (1.22) |
18 (0.71) |
17 (0.67) |
27 (1.06) |
30 (1.18) |
30 (1.18) |
23 (0.91) |
318 (12.52) |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 1 mm) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 50 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 133 | 165 | 210 | 221 | 263 | 295 | 337 | 311 | 231 | 192 | 148 | 116 | 2,614 |
| Source: Agencia Estatal de Meteorología | |||||||||||||
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