According to COUNTRYAAH, the Republic of Yemen (Arabic الجمهورية اليمنية al-Jumhuriya al-Yemeniya) is located in the extreme southwest of the Arabian Peninsula and is about one and a half times as large as Germany with 527,970 km² (other information: 503,891 km²). Its northern neighbor is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1,458 km shared border) and the Sultanate of Oman to the east (288 km shared border). In the south and west, the country is washed by the floods of the Gulf of Aden (as part of the Indian Ocean) and the Red Sea. As one of countries with Y according to COUNTRYAAH, Yemen also has a number of smaller and larger islands (around 200 in total), including Socotra as the largest in the Gulf of Aden, as well as the islands of Kamaran in the Red Sea, the Hanisch Islands, Jabal Zuqar and Perim (Arabic ميّـون – Mayyun) at the southern entrance of the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb – known as the “gate of the Tears”.
Topography and climate
The strongly varying topography of the country also causes regional differences in the climate and in the daily weather conditions.
In the highlands (Mountain Yemen) it remains mostly dry throughout the year – apart from a few rainy days with partly heavy rainfall. The winters are mild, but subject to greater temperature fluctuations: during the day 20-28 °C and at night 0-5 °C. Light frosts are quite possible. In summer it is hot, with daytime temperatures around 35 °C, while the nights are cool at 10-15 °C. South of Sana’a has the most rainfall in the country. In some areas, especially between Ibb and Taiz, it rains up to 50 days a year, mostly in March and August (up to 1000 mm). The daytime temperatures rise to 25-30 °C. During the night it stays at values of 10-13 °C. The air humidity is around 40-50% all year round. Because of the heavy rainfall, this region is also known as the “Green Province”(Arabic. اللواء الاخضر) and therefore used intensively for agriculture. In addition, with its settlement, it has the highest population density in the country.
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The coastal plains on the Red Sea (Tihama) and the Gulf of Aden are hot and humid and with little rainfall. In winter the daytime temperatures are 28-32 °C and 18-23 °C at night. The summers are often unbearably hot due to extremely high humidity of up to 90% and temperatures of 35-40 °C (including Aden: average temperature in January 25 ° C, in June 33 °C, with 40 mm precipitation per year). In this region, tropical storms or even cyclones can occur relatively rarely, but still possible, such as cyclone “Chapala” at the beginning of November 2015, which led to severe material damage and loss of life, especially on Socotra and in / around Mukalla. Two more cyclones, “Mekunu” (End of May 2018) and “Luban” (mid-October 2018) once again hit the island of Socotra and parts of the province of Mahra (mainly through “Luban”) and caused great damage.
In the desert regions in the east and southeast, values of 45 °C are not uncommon. The air there is dry all year round (25 to max. 45% humidity). There are large temperature differences between day and night. Periodic watercourses after rainfall (February to April) and fountains only enable permanent human life in the wadis, such as in Wadi Hadramaut. More than 70% of the country, however, is desert or desert-like regions, whose vegetation briefly blooms after rainfall (see photo below right).
