Het weer in Luxor (Thebes) in augustus

Luxor-forum threads flatly titled about August being hot don't undersell it: readings in the mid-40s Celsius are described as routine, with some posters reporting even higher, one comparing the sensation to sitting with an oven door open or a hairdryer aimed straight at your face. Reactions split sharply - some visitors call it hot but bearable with the right pace, others describe genuine complaints from fellow travelers struggling through it. The standing advice across every thread is identical: schedule Karnak and the West Bank tombs for the earliest morning slot, when the light is called genuinely beautiful, then retreat to shade or air conditioning. Hydration gets repeated as non-negotiable. Regulars are consistent that skipping summer entirely is the simplest fix for anyone with flexible dates. The record: a blistering 41.6C by day feeling like 40C, 27.3C nights, essentially no precipitation at all, a bone-dry 24 percent humidity, an unhealthy 131 AQI and 11.9 hours of sun.

Regulars name a specific warm wind from Sudan, the khamsin, as this month's real wildcard, capable of arriving anytime from February through May but usually short-lived, sometimes just 5-10 minutes and rarely a full day - regulars with multiple March trips report never actually experiencing a disruptive sandstorm from it. Our row backs that warm, genuinely dry read, 29.9C actually feeling a touch milder at 27C thanks to the low humidity, over 13.4C nights feeling 10C, with rain essentially absent, 0.4mm across a fraction of a day, and humidity down to a very dry 29 percent. Regulars are consistent temperatures climb noticeably from the start of the month to the end, low-to-mid 20s early on stretching toward mid-30s by late March. Layers for genuinely cool mornings and evenings remain the standard advice. The record: 11 hours of sun, a 16 kph wind and AQI 88.

November is the month regulars recommend here, and the warning attached to it is about the evening rather than the day. Once the sun goes down the temperature drops roughly twenty degrees in what feels like minutes, and people who packed for Egypt rather than for a desert night end up staying in. Our row is that gap exactly: 29.4C by day against 14.3C at night, and the daylight column is down to 10.9 hours, so the cold part of the day is also the long part. Rain does not enter into it - the column reads zero millimetres across zero days, at 43.4 percent humidity. A hat for the middle of the day, a sweater and a layer for after it. The record: 10 hours of sun and AQI 97.

January is the month regulars call their favourite in Egypt, and the reason is that it makes the tombs walkable: around 75F by day, which they compare to an English summer's day, and our row's 22.7C agrees. The consistent warning is the other end of the clock. Once the sun goes it turns properly cold, and the early mornings with it, so the packing list is shorts, a t-shirt and sandals for the Valley of the Kings with a hoodie or a jacket for the evening. Our row's 7C night reading as 5C is exactly that. They also note Luxor runs colder than Aswan upriver. Rain is simply not a factor: 0.2mm and no precipitation days at all. The record: humidity 48 percent, 9.8 hours of sun, 10.7 hours of daylight and AQI 88.

February is one of Egypt's busiest months precisely because the days are manageable, and the Luxor forum's warning is about the other half of the day: the moment the sun goes down it turns properly cool, and one regular remembers everyone huddled round the street braziers at night. A cardigan or fleece covers the evening; layers cover a day that goes from that to glorious in a sheltered midday spot. Two other February variables come up - strong northerly winds that can ground balloons and feluccas, and wind-driven sand at the desert sites. For the Valley of the Kings the advice is to be there for the 06:00 opening, before the coaches. The record: 24.8C days, 9C nights, humidity 40 percent, 10.1 hours of sun, AQI 89.