Distance protection is a primary protection scheme for long extra-high-voltage transmission lines, but its performance can be significantly affected by harsh desert operating conditions. In desert regions, EHV lines are exposed to high ambient temperature, intense solar radiation, low humidity, wind variation, sand contamination, and wide daily thermal cycles. These factors influence conductor temperature, sag, resistance, line impedance, and the apparent impedance measured by distance relays. As conductor temperature increases, resistance rises and the relay impedance locus may shift, creating risks of under reach, overreach, delayed tripping, incorrect zone coordination, and inaccurate fault location. Long EHV lines are also affected by distributed capacitance, shunt compensation, mutual coupling, load encroachment, and high-resistance faults, which further complicate relay performance. This paper examines the influence of temperature, sag, and impedance drift on distance protection behavior in desert environments. It presents a technical review of operating challenges and proposes an adaptive protection framework based on conductor temperature monitoring, dynamic line rating data, weather sensors, relay event records, and periodic setting validation. The study concludes that environment-aware distance protection improves dependability, security, selectivity, and resilience of EHV transmission systems operating under severe desert conditions and supports reliable future grid operation.