Erbil weather by month, and the best time to fly to Kurdistan

Erbil weather has two extremes and two sweet spots. Summers in Hewlêr are long, dry and very hot, with afternoons above 40 °C from June to September. Winters are cool and wet, with snow in the mountains but rarely in the city. In between, April, May and October are the months most visitors remember: warm days, cool evenings, and hills that are green in spring and golden in autumn. This guide gives the weather in Hewlêr month by month, compares it with Silêmanî, Dihok, Amed and Mêrdîn, and shows which weeks of the year fill up the flights.

Weather in Hewlêr month by month

Average temperatures in the afternoon (high) and at night (low), and average rainfall per month, rounded. These are long-term averages, not a forecast.

Month	High	Low	Rain
January	13 °C	3 °C	73 mm
February	15 °C	4 °C	51 mm
March	19 °C	8 °C	80 mm
April	26 °C	11 °C	43 mm
May	33 °C	17 °C	18 mm
June	39 °C	23 °C	0 to 1 mm
July	42 °C	27 °C	0 mm
August	43 °C	26 °C	0 mm
September	38 °C	21 °C	0 to 1 mm
October	30 °C	16 °C	20 mm
November	21 °C	10 °C	49 mm
December	15 °C	5 °C	85 mm

In short: January is the coolest month and December the wettest. The hills turn green from February, April brings wildflowers and warm days, and summer starts in May. July and August are the hottest months, September is still hot, and October is warm with golden light before the rain returns in November.

Almost all the rain falls between November and April. From June to September it hardly rains at all, and the afternoon heat is dry rather than humid. In winter the nights are cold enough for a coat, and houses without central heating can feel colder than the numbers suggest; pack a warm layer even if you fly from northern Europe.

Silêmanî, Dihok, Amed and Mêrdîn compared

Kurdistan is large, and the weather changes with height and distance from the mountains. The table compares five cities in four months that show the year: January, April, July and October.

City	Jan	Apr	Jul	Oct
Hewlêr	13/3	26/11	42/27	30/16
Silêmanî	11/-1	24/8	41/22	29/11
Dihok	11/3	24/13	42/27	29/15
Amed	7/-2	21/7	39/22	26/10
Mêrdîn	7/1	18/10	36/25	24/16

Temperatures in °C: the first number is the average afternoon, the second the average night. Rain in a whole year, rounded: Hewlêr about 420 mm, Amed 500 mm, Mêrdîn 610 mm, Dihok 650 mm and Silêmanî 720 mm. Booking sites use Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok, Diyarbakır and Mardin for these five cities.

What stands out:

• Silêmanî lies higher and closer to the mountains than Hewlêr. Its winters are colder, with frost on many nights, and it gets almost twice as much rain. Summers are just as hot in the afternoon, but the nights cool down more.
• Dihok sits in a valley between mountains. Summer afternoons are as hot as in Hewlêr, while the winter is wetter, and snow on the mountains around the city is common.
• Amed has the coldest winters of the five, with frost on an average January night, and a hot, dry summer. Spring comes later than in Başûr.
• Mêrdîn is built on a hillside above the plain, and that height shows: summer afternoons are the mildest of the five, and winter nights stay just above freezing. Late spring is wetter than in Hewlêr, with about 50 mm of rain in May.

For a trip that combines cities, spring and autumn are the safest choice: none of them is uncomfortably hot or cold then.

When fares rise, and when you have more choice

We do not publish a cheapest month to fly to Hewlêr, because it changes every year with Eid, school holidays and new routes. What does repeat every year is the pattern of busy weeks. In those weeks fares rise and the direct flights fill up first; outside them you usually have more choice of days and airlines.

The live fares above show what departures to Hewlêr cost now, from the departure cities near you. If your dates can move, compare a few days before and after: on routes with only two or three direct flights a week, the day of departure makes a bigger difference than the month.

The busy weeks

December: Christmas, New Year and the new winter routes

December is cool and often wet, but for many families in Europe it is the only time off in winter, and the weeks around Christmas and New Year are full. December 2026 also brings new direct routes: Condor starts flying from Düsseldorf to Silêmanî on 18 December, and Eurowings has announced routes from Berlin, Hannover and Cologne/Bonn to Hewlêr from early and mid December. More flights mean more choice, but the holiday weeks still sell out early.

March: Eid al-Fitr and Newroz

In 2027 two big celebrations fall in the same month. Eid al-Fitr is expected around 9 or 10 March 2027, depending on the moon, and Newroz is on Sunday 21 March. That makes the first three weeks of March one of the busiest periods of the year for flights to Kurdistan. The weather is mild and the hills are green, which is a reason more to go; just book early. Our guide to Newroz 2027 lists the direct flights that land in time for the celebrations.

Summer: the July peak

The summer holidays in Europe bring the most visitors of the year, with a peak in July. That is also the hottest month, with afternoons around 42 °C in Hewlêr. If you can choose, compare the first and last weeks of the holidays with the peak in July: the heat is the same, the fares can differ. For Bakur, the summer timetable adds direct routes from Germany to Amed; see our guide to Diyarbakır Airport.

Winter or summer timetable: what changes in late March

Airlines in Europe work with two timetables a year. The winter timetable runs until Saturday 27 March 2027; the summer timetable starts on Sunday 28 March 2027 and runs until late October.

What that means for flights to Kurdistan:

• Winter routes, like the Eurowings flights from Düsseldorf and Stuttgart to Hewlêr, are announced for the winter season. Whether they continue in summer is up to the airline.
• Summer routes to Amed, such as the flights from Berlin, Frankfurt and Stuttgart in summer 2026, usually return with the summer timetable.
• Routes that run all year, like Pegasus from Cologne/Bonn to Amed, and routes without an announced end date, like the Fly Erbil flights to Hewlêr, can still change days or times on the switch date.

If you book a return flight across the end of March, check the times of both flights again a few weeks before you leave. The page with all direct flights shows every route from Europe to Kurdistan with its status, and the ticket pages for Hewlêr, Silêmanî, Amed and Mêrdîn show live fares from your city.