Addis Ababa climate

Name: Addis Ababa
Address: ET

Addis Ababa is warmest in March, with average highs of 24 °C, and coldest in December, when nights average 8.2 °C. August is the wettest month (395 mm) and December the driest (5.8 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Addis Ababa averages 1,741 mm of rain and 20 days above 25 °C.

Ethiopia · population 3,860,000 · 1991–2020 normals

Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month

Warmest month March 24 °C
Coldest month December 8.2 °C
Driest month December 6 mm
Wettest month August 395 mm
Least cloud December 33 % cloud
Hottest on record March 29 °C
Coldest on record January 2.9 °C

What to expectAddis Ababa through the year

Addis Ababa changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 22 and 24 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Counted across a normal year, 20 days a year reach 25 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 29 °C, in March.

Rain is strongly seasonal. August averages 395 mm against 6 mm in December — 68 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	22.1 °C	16 mm	40 %
February	23.3 °C	18 mm	42 %
March	23.5 °C	65 mm	49 %
April	23.1 °C	132 mm	59 %
May	22.7 °C	159 mm	58 %
June	21.2 °C	255 mm	61 %
July	19.6 °C	369 mm	74 %
August	19.6 °C	395 mm	75 %
September	19.8 °C	270 mm	60 %
October	20.6 °C	46 mm	44 %
November	21.4 °C	10 mm	35 %
December	21.5 °C	6 mm	33 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C
January	22.1 °C	9.0 °C	15.2 °C	26.1 °C	2.9 °C	0
February	23.3 °C	10.0 °C	16.3 °C	27.7 °C	4.8 °C	4
March	23.5 °C	11.2 °C	17.1 °C	28.5 °C	4.1 °C	7
April	23.1 °C	11.5 °C	17.1 °C	28.0 °C	7.2 °C	5
May	22.7 °C	11.2 °C	16.8 °C	27.7 °C	6.9 °C	3
June	21.2 °C	10.8 °C	15.5 °C	27.3 °C	7.8 °C	1
July	19.6 °C	10.9 °C	14.6 °C	22.5 °C	7.6 °C	0
August	19.6 °C	11.0 °C	14.6 °C	22.4 °C	8.2 °C	0
September	19.8 °C	10.1 °C	14.6 °C	22.0 °C	4.8 °C	0
October	20.6 °C	8.6 °C	14.6 °C	23.9 °C	3.6 °C	0
November	21.4 °C	8.4 °C	14.7 °C	24.4 °C	3.1 °C	0
December	21.5 °C	8.2 °C	14.6 °C	24.2 °C	3.0 °C	0

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	16 mm	3	12 h/day	40 %	56 %	13 km/h
February	18 mm	4	12 h/day	42 %	52 %	15 km/h
March	65 mm	10	12 h/day	49 %	57 %	15 km/h
April	132 mm	13	12 h/day	59 %	65 %	14 km/h
May	159 mm	13	13 h/day	58 %	66 %	14 km/h
June	255 mm	23	13 h/day	61 %	79 %	10 km/h
July	369 mm	31	13 h/day	74 %	87 %	9.9 km/h
August	395 mm	31	12 h/day	75 %	88 %	9.9 km/h
September	270 mm	24	12 h/day	60 %	83 %	11 km/h
October	46 mm	6	12 h/day	44 %	65 %	15 km/h
November	10 mm	2	12 h/day	35 %	56 %	15 km/h
December	6 mm	1	12 h/day	33 %	55 %	14 km/h

How Addis Ababa compares

The same four figures for nearby destinations, so the numbers above have something to be read against. Summer high is the warmest month's average high; winter low is the coldest month's average low.

Destination	Summer high	Winter low	Rain per year	Days above 25 °C
Addis Ababa	24 °C	8.2 °C	1,741 mm	20
Bishoftu · Ethiopia	26 °C	9.1 °C	808 mm	105
Nazrēt · Ethiopia	29 °C	12 °C	354 mm	315
Hosa’ina · Ethiopia	24 °C	9.2 °C	2,058 mm	29

Where Addis Ababa ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Places with the best weather in Africa in February	2ndof 50	96/100
The coolest places in Africa in October	7thof 50	21 °C
The coolest places in Africa in September	7thof 50	20 °C
Places with the best weather in Africa in January	9thof 50	95/100
Places with the best weather in the world in February	12thof 50	96/100
The coolest places in Africa in August	13thof 50	20 °C

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Addis Ababa.

QuestionsCommon questions about Addis Ababa’s climate

When is the best time to visit Addis Ababa?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. March, April, May sit closest to 20 °C on average, March is the warmest month and December the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Addis Ababa get?

In March, the warmest month, daily highs average 24 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 29 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 8.2 °C in December, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Addis Ababa?

August, averaging 395 mm over 31 days with rain. The driest month is December with 6 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,741 mm.

Are these figures a forecast?

No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Addis Ababa rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.

Data sources and method

ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0

Normal period: 1991–2020
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.