Morocco’s General Directorate of Meteorology issued its forecast for Friday this morning, pointing to an unsettled day across large parts of the kingdom, with thundery downpours expected over the Rif mountains, the Atlas range and its eastern foothills, as well as over the Oriental region near the Algerian border.
Further south, the instability persists. Forecasters are calling for additional storm showers in the southeast of the country and in the far south, two areas where rainfall is typically scarce at this time of year. When storms do strike there, they can trigger sudden flash flooding in wadis that are dry for most of the year, and local authorities routinely urge residents to stay clear of riverbeds and low-lying ground whenever such warnings are issued.
Along the Atlantic coastline and the plains behind it, as well as on the Mediterranean shore, a layer of fairly dense low cloud is expected to linger through the morning hours, with the chance of light drizzle or patches of fog in some spots. This kind of autumn-transition weather often reduces visibility on coastal roads, and drivers are advised to take extra care, particularly during the early hours of the day.
Temperatures will vary sharply from one region to another. Overnight lows are set to range between 4 and 10 degrees Celsius in the Atlas and Rif highlands, where cooler mountain air is becoming more firmly established as autumn progresses. In the Oriental region and the eastern Atlas foothills, morning readings will hover between 10 and 15 degrees. Further south and west, the picture looks milder: the Gharb plain, the Souss region, the Tangier area and the deep south can expect lows between 22 and 25 degrees, while the rest of the kingdom should see intermediate figures, roughly 15 to 22 degrees.
Daytime highs are forecast to climb noticeably in the Oriental region and the southeast, a pattern often associated with the warm air that precedes this kind of thundery activity, while temperatures elsewhere are expected to hold steady or dip slightly. At sea, conditions are also turning rougher, with locally strong waves forecast along the Mediterranean coast, the Strait of Gibraltar and the length of the Atlantic seaboard, a detail fishing crews and water-sports enthusiasts will want to factor into their plans.
Such a mix of thunderstorms inland, coastal fog and a sharp north-south temperature gradient is typical of Morocco’s seasonal turn toward autumn, as the first real storm systems of the season begin to reach the Atlas and Rif while the south and the Atlantic plains still carry traces of summer warmth.
