Mecca of the English transliteration for the Arabic name of the city, although the official transliteration used by the Saudi government is "Makkah", which is closer to the Arabic pronunciation. The word "Mecca" in English has come to be used to refer to any place that draws large numbers of people, and because of this some English speaking Muslims have come to regard the use of this spelling for the city as offensive. The Saudi government adopted "Makkah" as the official spelling in the 1980s, but is not universally known or used worldwide. The full official name is "Makkah al-Mukarramah" ()
Climate of Mecca in 1942. Since then, dams have been constructed to ameliorate the problem. Mecca is at an elevation of 277 m above sea level, and approximately 80 km inland from the Red Sea. Flash floods are common during winter season even though the amount of precipitation is low. Since Mecca is located in a desert, dust storms are common in the city. Since Mecca is located in a low-lying region, it is threatened by seasonal flash floods despite the low amount of annual precipitation. There are less than of rainfall during the year, mainly falling in the winter months. Temperatures are