The climate of El Paso
BWh Hot desert. Very dry and hot. Rain is rare and unreliable, and the year is hot on average. Think of the Sahara, the Arabian Peninsula and the deserts of the American south-west.
El Paso is north of the equator, so summer falls in June to August and winter in December to February. The 1901 to 1930 map put El Paso in BWk (cold desert), so its zone is different from a century ago.
El Paso: then, now and by 2100
| Map | Climate zone | Compared with now |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 to 1930 | BWk Cold desert | Different from now |
| 1991 to 2020 (now) | BWh Hot desert | - |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP1-2.6 (low emissions) | BWh Hot desert | Same as now |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP2-4.5 (middle of the road) | BWh Hot desert | Same as now |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP5-8.5 (high emissions) | BWh Hot desert | Same as now |
The 2071 to 2099 rows are model projections under three emissions scenarios, not forecasts. The 1901 to 1930 row is a reconstruction. All come from Beck et al. (2023).
Under the middle-of-the-road scenario (SSP2-4.5), the model keeps El Paso in BWh in 2071 to 2099. The high-emissions scenario (SSP5-8.5) gives the same answer.
Cities with the same climate as El Paso
Other big cities that are BWh (hot desert) in 1991 to 2020, at most two per country:
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Population of El Paso from GeoNames: 678,815 (rank 859 in our list of 1,000). Climate data: Beck et al. (2023), CC BY 4.0. Data sources and licences.