Bahir Dar climate
Bahir Dar is warmest in April, with average highs of 28 °C, and coldest in December, when nights average 14 °C. August is the wettest month (495 mm) and January the driest (2.8 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.
Across a full year Bahir Dar averages 1,702 mm of rain and 154 days above 25 °C.
Ethiopia · population 350,000 · 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 April 28 °C
- Coldest month December 14 °C
- Driest month January 3 mm
- Wettest month August 495 mm
- Least cloud December 26 % cloud
- Hottest on record May 33 °C
- Coldest on record January 8.2 °C
What to expectBahir Dar through the year
Bahir Dar has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 25 °C in December to 28 °C in April, a swing of 5.1 °C in mean temperature across the year.
Counted across a normal year, 154 days a year reach 25 °C, 6 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 33 °C, in May.
Rain is strongly seasonal. August averages 495 mm against 3 mm in January — 178 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.
Month by month
| Month | Avg high | Rainfall | Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25.4 °C | 3 mm | 30 % |
| February | 27.1 °C | 4 mm | 33 % |
| March | 28.0 °C | 15 mm | 39 % |
| April | 28.0 °C | 25 mm | 45 % |
| May | 26.3 °C | 95 mm | 54 % |
| June | 23.6 °C | 267 mm | 65 % |
| July | 21.5 °C | 494 mm | 80 % |
| August | 21.5 °C | 495 mm | 79 % |
| September | 22.5 °C | 231 mm | 59 % |
| October | 23.5 °C | 56 mm | 46 % |
| November | 24.2 °C | 14 mm | 31 % |
| December | 24.8 °C | 4 mm | 26 % |
Temperature month by month
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Mean | Record high | Record low | Days above 25 °C | Days above 30 °C | Days below 0 °C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25.4 °C | 14.4 °C | 20.1 °C | 28.8 °C | 8.2 °C | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| February | 27.1 °C | 15.7 °C | 21.6 °C | 30.7 °C | 11.1 °C | 27 | 0 | 0 |
| March | 28.0 °C | 16.8 °C | 22.6 °C | 31.9 °C | 12.5 °C | 30 | 2 | 0 |
| April | 28.0 °C | 17.8 °C | 23.0 °C | 32.0 °C | 13.7 °C | 28 | 3 | 0 |
| May | 26.3 °C | 17.4 °C | 21.8 °C | 32.7 °C | 14.5 °C | 22 | 1 | 0 |
| June | 23.6 °C | 16.1 °C | 19.4 °C | 29.7 °C | 12.9 °C | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| July | 21.5 °C | 15.4 °C | 17.9 °C | 25.0 °C | 12.6 °C | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| August | 21.5 °C | 15.3 °C | 17.9 °C | 24.5 °C | 12.8 °C | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| September | 22.5 °C | 15.0 °C | 18.5 °C | 25.4 °C | 12.7 °C | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| October | 23.5 °C | 15.0 °C | 19.2 °C | 26.1 °C | 11.9 °C | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| November | 24.2 °C | 14.2 °C | 19.4 °C | 26.8 °C | 10.4 °C | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| December | 24.8 °C | 14.0 °C | 19.6 °C | 27.3 °C | 10.1 °C | 13 | 0 | 0 |
Rain, sun and wind month by month
| Month | Rainfall | Wet days | Daylight | Cloud cover | Humidity | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3 mm | 1 | 12 h/day | 30 % | 55 % | 14 km/h |
| February | 4 mm | 1 | 12 h/day | 33 % | 49 % | 15 km/h |
| March | 15 mm | 3 | 12 h/day | 39 % | 47 % | 15 km/h |
| April | 25 mm | 5 | 12 h/day | 45 % | 49 % | 15 km/h |
| May | 95 mm | 14 | 13 h/day | 54 % | 63 % | 15 km/h |
| June | 267 mm | 26 | 13 h/day | 65 % | 79 % | 14 km/h |
| July | 494 mm | 31 | 13 h/day | 80 % | 85 % | 12 km/h |
| August | 495 mm | 31 | 13 h/day | 79 % | 85 % | 11 km/h |
| September | 231 mm | 26 | 12 h/day | 59 % | 82 % | 10 km/h |
| October | 56 mm | 10 | 12 h/day | 46 % | 74 % | 11 km/h |
| November | 14 mm | 3 | 12 h/day | 31 % | 66 % | 12 km/h |
| December | 4 mm | 1 | 11 h/day | 26 % | 59 % | 13 km/h |
Where Bahir Dar ranks
| Ranking | Position | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Places with the best weather in Africa in December | 6th of 50 | 96/100 |
| Places with the best weather in Africa in January | 7th of 50 | 95/100 |
| Places with the best weather in Africa in November | 8th of 50 | 97/100 |
| Places with the best weather in the world in December | 16th of 50 | 96/100 |
| The coolest places in Africa in September | 23rd of 50 | 23 °C |
| Places with the best weather in Africa in February | 33rd of 50 | 91/100 |
Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Bahir Dar.
QuestionsCommon questions about Bahir Dar’s climate
When is the best time to visit Bahir Dar?
That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. January, November, December sit closest to 20 °C on average, April is the warmest month and January the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.
How hot does Bahir Dar get?
In April, the warmest month, daily highs average 28 °C. About 6 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 33 °C.
How cold does it get in winter?
Nights average 14 °C in December, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.
Which month is wettest in Bahir Dar?
August, averaging 495 mm over 31 days with rain. The driest month is January with 3 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,702 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 Bahir Dar 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
- Data point
- 11.594°, 37.391° (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
- Dataset version
- era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
- Last processed
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.