Weather in Sharm el-Sheikh in August

The month to avoid. August is the month most people should skip in Sharm el-Sheikh. Daytime highs average 39.3 °C and the afternoon is not negotiable — outdoor plans move to early morning or evening.

August ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Sharm el-Sheikh's year. January is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 70 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

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: 31 days of the month clear 35 °C — that is not a heatwave, it is the month. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest August day reached 46.1 °C and the coldest night fell to 26.2 °C.

August is dependably dry, and that reliability is the point: across the twenty years measured, the wettest August on record still only managed 0 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 Augusts brought 0 mm. Rain simply is not the variable that decides this trip — heat, crowds and cost are.

Wind is light at 11.8 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and the air is dry at 37% humidity, which makes the heat far more bearable than the same figure somewhere humid — and dehydrates you faster than you expect.

How August sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 38.7 °C in July, 39.3 here, 37.7 in September. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in August

13.2 hours of daylight, losing 0.7 hours across the month. That is between Sharm el-Sheikh's extremes of 13.9 and 10.4 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 29.1 °C in August — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. This is the warmest the water gets all year.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

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

August in Sharm el-Sheikh versus nearby

If Sharm el-Sheikh is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Hurghada is a better bet in August — 4.4 °C cooler, the same number of rain days. Cairo is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days.

So: August is a compromise. January is 70 points better and is what Sharm el-Sheikh 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 Sharm el-Sheikh

See all twelve months in Sharm el-Sheikh, or where else to go in August.