Hajj will not fall in summer until 2050

Pilgrims performing Hajj will not experience the searing heat of summer again for another quarter of a century.

Starting in 2026, the annual Islamic pilgrimage will gradually move into milder seasons — spring, winter, and autumn — offering cooler conditions for millions of worshippers each year.

Hussein Al Qahtani, spokesman of the National Centre for Meteorology (NCM), said that this year’s Hajj season marks the end of the Hajj season coinciding with the summer months.

He noted that the next eight Hajj seasons will occur during spring, followed by eight more in winter, then in autumn with gradually rising temperatures, before returning to summer after approximately 25 years.

The NCM spokesperson cited that this shift is due to the lunar calendar cycle, which offers pilgrims the opportunity to perform Hajj rituals in more moderate weather conditions during the coming years.

NCM has released a 25-year Hajj calendar outlining how the pilgrimage dates, based on the Hijri (Islamic) calendar, will align with the Gregorian calendar seasons through to 2050.

Due to the lunar nature of the Hijri calendar, which is approximately 11 days shorter than the Gregorian year, the Hajj shifts earlier each year. As a result, pilgrims will benefit from increasingly favourable weather conditions until the pilgrimage eventually returns to the summer months in 2050.

Hajj seasons through 2050:

• 2026–2033: Spring (May–March)

• 2034–2041: Winter (February- January, later December)

• 2042–2049: Autumn (November- September)

• 2050: Hajj returns to August – Summer

This seasonal shift is expected to ease the physical demands of Hajj, particularly for the elderly and those with health concerns, while also aiding efforts in crowd management, logistics, and safety planning.