Weather in Cairo in September

A hard month. September is a hard month in Cairo, and worth planning around. Daytime highs average 36.5 °C and the afternoon is not negotiable — outdoor plans move to early morning or evening.

September ranks 9 of 12 in Cairo: past the worst of the year but short of March, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain is not a factor worth planning around this month. Pack for heat management rather than style: shade, water, and a schedule that gives up on the middle of the day.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 22 days of the month clear 35 °C — that is not a heatwave, it is the month; the day swings 15.6 °C from low to high, which means one bag has to cover both. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest September day reached 43.2 °C and the coldest night fell to 16.3 °C.

September is dependably dry, and that reliability is the point: across the twenty years measured, the wettest September on record still only managed 4 mm, and the driest managed 0 mm. There is no meaningful variability to plan around, which makes this one of the few months anywhere that you can build a fixed outdoor itinerary against without a fallback. The wettest single day in twenty years of Septembers brought 2 mm. Rain simply is not the variable that decides this trip — heat, crowds and cost are.

Wind is light at 10.8 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 50%.

How September sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 2.6 °C cooler than August, with October dropping another 4.5 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in September

12.4 hours of daylight, losing 0.9 hours across the month. That is between Cairo's extremes of 14.1 and 10.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

With no coast nearby, the year swings a fair way — 31.8 °C between the warmest afternoons and the coldest nights, wider than any coastal city at this latitude would manage. Within September itself the daily swing is 15.6 °C, so mornings and afternoons need different clothes.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

September in Cairo versus nearby

If Cairo is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Port Said is a better bet in September — 9.9 °C cooler, the same number of rain days. Alexandria is a better bet in September — 3.8 °C cooler, the same number of rain days.

So: September is a compromise. March is 50 points better and is what Cairo is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Cairo

See all twelve months in Cairo, or where else to go in September.