What are Morocco's microclimates and regional differences?

Morocco is a masterclass in microclimates, and it is the thing I most love explaining on the road because you can literally watch it change through the windscreen. Within one country you have the Mediterranean north, green and mild around Tangier and the Rif; the oceanic Atlantic coast, cool and breezy from Rabat to Agadir; the alpine High Atlas with its snow and frost; the semi-arid plains around Marrakech and Fes; and the true Sahara in the south-east. Each behaves almost like its own little country.

The single most important feature is the High Atlas wall running diagonally across the country. It intercepts the moist Atlantic weather, wringing it out on the north-western side, which is why that side is greener and wetter, and casting a dry rain shadow on the south-east, which is why the desert sits there. Cross the mountains and you cross a climate frontier. I have left a misty, green, cool morning on one side and arrived in hot, dust-dry desert air on the other within a couple of hours, and people are genuinely astonished at how complete the switch is.

Then there are the pocket microclimates that defy the regional rule. Taroudant and the Souss valley behind Agadir are warm and sheltered, almost tropical in feel, while the coast nearby stays cool. Ifrane up in the Middle Atlas is so cold and snowy it feels Swiss. The Drâa and Dadès valleys are ribbons of green palmery threading through stark desert, cooler in their shade than the surrounding rock. Even within Marrakech, a shaded riad courtyard can be ten degrees cooler than the sun-baked square outside.

The practical upshot for any traveller is that you cannot pack for "Morocco" as a single climate, you pack for a route. A classic loop, coast to imperial city to Atlas to desert, might take you through four microclimates in a week, needing everything from a swimsuit to a warm jacket. This variety is honestly one of the country's greatest pleasures: in a single trip you experience landscapes and weather that would take several separate holidays elsewhere.