Baku’s Climate:

Baku has a temperate semi-arid climate with hot and humid summers, cool and occasionally wet winters, and strong winds all year long.

However, unlike many other cities with such climate features, Baku does not see extremely hot summers and substantial sunshine hours. This is largely because of its northerly latitude and the fact that it is located on a peninsula on the shore of the Caspian Sea. Baku and the Absheron Peninsula on which it is situated, is the most arid part of Azerbaijan (precipitation here is around or less than 200 mm (8 in) a year). The majority of the light annual precipitation occurs in seasons other than summer, but none of these seasons are particularly wet. Baku with its long hours of sunshine and dry healthy climate, is a vacation destination where citizens could enjoy beaches on the Caspian Sea.

At the same time Baku is noted as a very windy city throughout the year, hence the city’s nickname the “City of Winds”, and gale-force winds, the cold northern wind khazri and the warm southern wind gilavar are typical here in all seasons. Indeed, the city is renowned for its fierce winter snow storms and harsh winds. The speed of the khazri sometimes reaches 144 kph (89 mph), which can cause damage to crops, trees and roof tiles.

Caspian Sea

The Caspian has characteristics common to both seas and lakes. It is often listed as the world’s largest lake, although it is not a freshwater lake. It contains about 3.5 times more water, by volume, than all five of North America’s Great Lakes combined. It has a salinity of approximately 1.2% (12 g/l), about a third of the salinity of most seawater and the water level was 28 metres (92 feet) below sea level.