ABSTRACT
Egypt is, in geographical terms, a long river valley cut into a limestone plateau. On either side of this valley is desert. Only those areas that can be watered by the Nile are capable of supporting substantial populations. In Upper Egypt, there is very little rainfall: the average annual rainfall at Luxor is around 1 mm. The temperature may rise to over 60° C at midday in the summer and fall to below freezing point in the winter nights. Further north, at Cairo, the annual rainfall is usually less than 24 mm, normally falling in a few days in winter. The temperature in summer ranges between the noon high of 35° C and a night-time low of 22° C whilst in winter the corresponding range is 20° C to 10° C. Alexandria benefits from being a coastal city and has a more Mediterranean weather pattern with an average annual rainfall, concentrated between October and April, of 190 mm. It has less of a variation in temperature with a summer high of around 30° C at noon and a winter night-time low of around 10° C. The climate in most of Egypt is characteristic of desert regions. Nowhere is the rainfall great enough to support intensive agricultural activities.1
