מזג האוויר בראס אל-ח'ימה במאי

May is when Dubai stops being a comfortable winter destination. The forum's figure is "mid to high 30s, if not tipping 40 in the day and down to mid 20s during the hours of darkness — and those are shade temps," a distinction worth taking literally in a city with a lot of unshaded pavement. Whether that's fine depends on who you're with: one parent's two-year-old "did struggle at times during the day" on a late-May trip, and her advice was to book a hotel pool with plenty of shade rather than skip the season. The structural point posters make is that Dubai is built for it — indoor spaces of any size are air-conditioned and pools are chilled. Our record has 39°C highs, 24.6 kph average wind and effectively no rain, with sea already at 29.6°C.

Regulars are specific daytime temperatures run a very pleasant sunny 25C or so, genuine beach weather every day, while evenings drop to around 12 to 14C, cold enough that a light sweater or cardigan is worth carrying for after dark. Our row backs that mild, genuinely dry read, 25.3C over 15.5C nights feeling 16C, with rain light at 20.5mm across 2.7 days and humidity at 63 percent. Regulars are consistent this counts as one of the most comfortable months of the year here, well clear of the region's brutal summer heat, layers for the evening the only real packing adjustment needed. The sea sits at a mild 22.6C, comfortable enough for a swim on a sunny afternoon. The record: 9.6 hours of sun, an 11.6 kph wind and AQI 66.

Regulars describe December as warm by day, chilly enough in the evening for a light sweater, and honestly point to November as the better beach month instead - low thirties without humidity there, against a sea in December that can feel notably cold for swimming. Our row backs the milder daytime read, 27.5C over 17.9C, with 16.1mm of rain across 2.2 days and the sea at 25.1C, still comfortable if not at its warmest. Regulars also warn the weather itself is unpredictable year to year - one December pleasant and sunny, the next overcast - and that wind can pick up on this coast specifically rather than only on the Dubai side. The record: humidity 61 percent, 9.5 hours of sun, a 9.5 kph wind and AQI 81.

February is the coolest stretch of the emirate's year and regulars set it out as a two-outfit month: shorts and a t-shirt by day at mid-20s, long trousers and a jumper after dark, particularly if the wind gets up. Our row bears it out at 26.7C over 16.4C. Mid-February is the coolest part of it, with a little rain - 12.9mm across 2.9 days - and never actually cold. They also warn the sea is on the cool side in winter, and at 22.4C that is fair. One claim we cannot support: the board says the emirate runs ten degrees under Dubai, where our two rows sit within half a degree of each other. The record: humidity 63 percent, 10 hours of sun and AQI 80.

April here is really two months, and regulars put the hinge at about the 15th: that is when the heat starts climbing towards the July and August peak, so the first half is the comfortable half. Our row's 35.1C average - reading as 37C - is the second half pulling the month up. The compensations are dryness and water. Humidity sits at 44 percent, far below the Gulf's summer, so the heat is bearable in a way a coastal number does not usually suggest, and the sea is already 26C. Rain is a rounding error at 13.5mm across 0.8 days. When the coast gets too much, the standing local answer is altitude: Jebel Jais behind the town runs markedly cooler. The record: 23.1C nights, 11.4 hours of sun, an 11.8 kph wind and AQI 101.