In January, the average temperature hit a record, “exceeding 3.8C (38.8F) above normal for the period 1991-2020,” said Houcine Youaabed, the head of communications for the meteorological department.
It is the “hottest month of January since the first measurements in 1940,” he told AFP.
The North African kingdom, where temperatures recently approached 37 degrees Celsius (99 Fahrenheit), is facing a sixth consecutive year of drought.
The lack of water threatens the viability of agriculture—a key economic sector which employs around a third of the working-age population and accounts for 14 percent of exports.