The Suhail star: when it rises and what it means

The Suhail star rises in central Saudi Arabia just before dawn on 24 August. You see it low on the south-eastern horizon, and it becomes clearly visible in the north of the Kingdom around 8 September. Its rising marks the breaking of the summer heat, not the end of it. It also opens the Suhail season, about fifty-two days across four stars: Al-Tarfa, Al-Jabha, Al-Zubra and Al-Sarfa, which ends on 15 October, when Al-Wasm begins.

What is the Suhail star?

Suhail is the star modern astronomy calls Canopus, the second-brightest star in the night sky after Sirius, which Arabic calls Al-Shi'ra. It is about 310 light-years away, which is why it looks dimmer than Sirius even though it is in fact far more luminous. It is also called Suhail Al-Yamani, the southern Suhail, because it appears in the south.

Because Suhail is a southern star, it never climbs high in the Saudi sky; it stays close to the horizon. Travellers and sailors used it to find their way, and its return after the summer became something people waited for every year.

When does the Suhail star rise, and where do you look?

Dr Abdullah Al-Musnad gives the rising as shortly before dawn on 24 August in central Saudi Arabia. In the southern half of the Arabian Peninsula it is visible to the naked eye around that date; in the north it becomes clear around 8 September. To see it, go somewhere away from city lights before dawn, face the south-eastern horizon, and look for a bright, low star twinkling close to the ground.

The four stars of the Suhail season

The Suhail season holds four stars, and Al-Jabha is the longest. The weather researcher Abdulaziz Al-Husaini gives Al-Tarfa thirteen days, Al-Jabha fourteen, Al-Zubra thirteen and Al-Sarfa thirteen, and counts Al-Tarfa as the seventh and last mansion of summer; Al-Jabha, Dr Al-Musnad notes, falls in autumn. That gives these approximate dates:

Star	Starts
Al-Tarfa	24 August
Al-Jabha	6 September
Al-Zubra	20 September
Al-Sarfa	3 October

Al-Sarfa ends on 15 October, and Al-Wasm begins the next day.

What changes after Suhail rises?

Al-Musnad is careful to say that Suhail's rising "does not mean the heat ends straight away"; the first days of Al-Tarfa can stay very hot and humid. But the end of the night slowly cools while the days stay hot, as the weather researcher Abdulaziz Al-Husaini puts it. Week by week the breeze softens and the sun loses its bite, until Al-Wasm arrives.

The old sayings about Suhail are full of these observations. "When Suhail rises, the night turns pleasant." "When Suhail rises, feel for the dates at night": the dates are ripe enough to pick in the dark. For farmers, the days of Suhail were a good time to plant palm offshoots and trees.

Should you head out in the Suhail season?

For many desert people the Suhail season is a time to get ready more than a time for long trips. Days are still hot, so people sit out after sunset and start preparing their gear and their cars for Al-Wasm. If you do head out in Suhail, go late in the day and into the evening, carry more water than you think you need, and take a light long sleeve for the end of the night, when it starts to cool.

The Suhaili year

Some people of the Arabian Peninsula made Suhail's rising the start of a 365-day solar year, through which the seasons follow one another: Suhail, Al-Wasm, Al-Murabbaniya, Al-Shabt, Al-Aqarib and on. Al-Musnad stresses that the Arabs honoured Suhail as a marker of time, not because the star changes the weather itself. People still celebrate it: the Northern Borders Region launched a Suhail Nights festival in 2025. The whole year is in our guide to the star calendar.

Suhail at Barr

Suhail appears on more than one of our pieces, because it is the star that opens the desert season. On the Suhail Long Sleeve we wrote what people say about it: when Suhail rises, the nights turn cool. The Suhail Mark Dad Hat from the Essentials carries the southern star over the horizon in a single thread. On the cuff of the Compass Beanie is a compass with Suhail in the south. And Drop 06, Suhail 1449, opens on 4 August 2027, before the star rises, so your piece reaches you as season two begins. It brings a caravan walking toward Suhail, Suhail rising over the dunes embroidered on the chest, the cluster of dates that ripens as it rises, and a beanie with the Suhail star in gold thread on the cuff. Every piece is made for you after you order.