The chergui or sharqī ( ') is the name of a continental easterly or southeasterly wind which blows on the southernmost part of

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, a hot and dry wind coming from the

Sahara Desert The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

. This wind can be compared with the

sirocco Sirocco ( ) or scirocco is a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and can reach hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe, especially during the summer season. Names ''Sirocco'' derives from '' šurūq'' (), verbal noun o ...

, a very hot and very dry desert wind. The Arabic word means "coming from the east", as the chergui emanates from the

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

east of the

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

. This is a

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...

wind as it falls down after passing over the top of the mountain range as a very hot and dry air into the coastal plains area towards the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, which brings soaring temperatures typical of the desert, often over 40 °C (104 °F) and can even turn around 48 °C (118.4 °F) during the day at summertime and the relative humidity is extremely low, nearly always below 15%. The chergui can also more rarely blow at wintertime, and is responsible of a warm, sunny and dry weather.

References

External links

Chergui (or Sharqi)
on weatheronline.co.uk, last accessed 20 July 2011. Maghreb Geography of North Africa Geography of Morocco Wind {{wind-stub