Iran Geography and Climate

Covering an area of 1,648,000 square kilometers, the Islamic Republic of Iran is located in southwestern Asia and one of the most important countries in the Middle East.

Iran is situated at the heart of the Middle East as a bridge, links the Caspian Sea, the largest land-locked body of water in the earth, to the Persian Gulf. On the south, Iran borders the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. The lowest point of Iran is the Caspian Sea – 28 m whereas the highest point is Kuh-e-Damavand at 5,671 m. Among the small rivers the only one navigable is the Karun through
which shallow-draft boats can move from Khorramshahr to Ahvaz. Iran geography also includes the various natural resources of Iran like petroleum, natural gas, coal, and chromium and information about where they can be found. The extent of irrigated land in Iran is 75,620 sq km.

Iran is one of the countries in the world which has the complete four seasons. In summer, the weather can be cool as well as warm, and in the cold winters, it can be mild. A large part of the country suffers
great extremes of heat and cold between summer and winter and rainfall is mainly confined to winter and spring. Summers are warm to hot with virtually continuous sunshine, with high humidity on the southern coasts. Very high temperatures can be experienced along the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea with a danger of heat exhaustion. Winter weather is very changeable with some mild, wet spells but
also some very cold periods with frost and snow. A small area along the Caspian coast has a very different climate, here rainfall is heaviest from late summer to mid-winter but falls throughout the year.

In the North West (Tabriz, Orumieh, Ardabil, Zanjan, Tehran), winters are cold with heavy snowfall and subfreezing temperatures especially during December and January.

In the south and center; weather is sunny most of the time, except some rainfalls in winter and spring. In Caspian Sea area (Rasht, Sari, Golestan), rainfall exceeds 100 centimeters annually and is distributed relatively evenly throughout the year.

On the other hand in the South (Bandar Abbas, Boushehr, Ahvaz) winters are mild and the summers are almost very hot, average daily temperatures in July exceeding 38° C. The days are extremely hot and the nights are mild from June to October.

In most of the country’s East & West (Shiraz, Isfahan), yearly precipitation averages of weather are 25 centimeters or less. Also springs and falls are relatively mild with pleasant weather in March and April.

Iran can be divided into 3 major climate areas:                

• Arid (desert) and semi-arid climate ( most of Iran)

• Mediterranean climate ( the narrow strip alongside Caspian sea, north of Iran)

• Cold dry climate ( in the mountain areas)