Haj 2025 to Be Last Summer Pilgrimage Until 2042
Saudi weather agency confirms shift to cooler seasons due to lunar calendar drift
The Saudi National Meteorological Center (NCM) has announced that the 2025 Haj season will mark the final time the Islamic pilgrimage falls during the peak summer months for the next 16 years. Beginning in 2026, the annual pilgrimage will shift into progressively cooler seasons—first spring, then winter—due to the Islamic lunar calendar’s annual drift of about 10 days.
According to NCM projections, Haj will occur in spring from 2026 to 2033 and in winter from 2034 to 2041. The pilgrimage will not return to the summer season until 2042.
This seasonal shift comes as a relief to millions of pilgrims who have long contended with extreme temperatures during summer Haj seasons. In 2024, Makkah experienced blistering heat ranging between 46°C and 51°C, leading to over 2,700 cases of heatstroke in a single day and several heat-related deaths.
To address weather-related challenges, the Kingdom had introduced 33 new weather monitoring stations during the 2024 Haj and expanded its use of mobile radar systems for real-time climate tracking at pilgrimage sites.
Haj 2025 is expected to begin on the evening of Friday, June 6, and conclude on the evening of Wednesday, June 12, subject to moon sighting. The pilgrimage takes place annually from the 8th to the 12th of Dhul Hijjah, the final month of the Islamic calendar.
