ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the important weather phenomena, including the climatic zones of northern Libya, and a consideration of rain as a part of the resource base of Libya. The temperature records indicate the importance of the influence of the sea and the desert on the weather and climate of Libya. The chapter focuses on four principal weather phenomena, the variations in which affect the viability of plant-life in climatically marginal environments, are precipitation, heat, humidity and wind. After precipitation, the extremely low relative humidities brought to the agricultural zone by the hot Saharan wind, associated with the passage of an intense depression, are the most significant features of the Libyan climate. In a country the climate of which varies between the arid margin of the humid temperate region and the arid extreme of the hot desert, the provision of water at the land surface is of greatest importance for population distribution, human occupations and future economic development.
