Dire Dawa climate

Name: Dire Dawa
Address: ET

Dire Dawa is warmest in June, with average highs of 32 °C, and coldest in December, when nights average 14 °C. April is the wettest month (138 mm) and December the driest (20 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Dire Dawa averages 812 mm of rain and 346 days above 25 °C.

Ethiopia · population 343,000 · 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 June 32 °C
Coldest month December 14 °C
Driest month December 20 mm
Wettest month April 138 mm
Least cloud December 27 % cloud
Hottest on record March 36 °C
Coldest on record February 7.5 °C

What to expectDire Dawa through the year

Dire Dawa has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 27 °C in December to 32 °C in June, a swing of 5.1 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 346 days a year reach 25 °C, 149 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 36 °C, in March.

Rain is strongly seasonal. April averages 138 mm against 20 mm in December — 6.8 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	26.5 °C	25 mm	32 %
February	28.1 °C	30 mm	34 %
March	29.3 °C	91 mm	44 %
April	29.5 °C	138 mm	55 %
May	30.7 °C	85 mm	51 %
June	31.6 °C	25 mm	46 %
July	30.6 °C	85 mm	50 %
August	30.1 °C	115 mm	50 %
September	30.2 °C	95 mm	45 %
October	29.4 °C	69 mm	40 %
November	27.8 °C	34 mm	30 %
December	26.5 °C	20 mm	27 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	26.5 °C	14.4 °C	20.7 °C	31.7 °C	7.7 °C	26	0
February	28.1 °C	15.5 °C	22.0 °C	34.3 °C	7.5 °C	25	5
March	29.3 °C	17.8 °C	23.5 °C	35.6 °C	8.9 °C	29	13
April	29.5 °C	19.1 °C	24.2 °C	35.0 °C	14.1 °C	29	13
May	30.7 °C	19.7 °C	25.1 °C	35.3 °C	13.8 °C	31	20
June	31.6 °C	20.2 °C	25.5 °C	34.9 °C	17.2 °C	30	26
July	30.6 °C	19.9 °C	24.7 °C	34.7 °C	17.8 °C	31	20
August	30.1 °C	19.9 °C	24.6 °C	34.1 °C	17.3 °C	31	18
September	30.2 °C	20.0 °C	25.0 °C	33.8 °C	12.4 °C	30	17
October	29.4 °C	17.4 °C	23.6 °C	33.7 °C	11.4 °C	30	14
November	27.8 °C	15.3 °C	21.7 °C	32.2 °C	9.6 °C	28	2
December	26.5 °C	14.2 °C	20.5 °C	30.2 °C	8.8 °C	27	0

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	25 mm	4	12 h/day	32 %	53 %	12 km/h
February	30 mm	4	12 h/day	34 %	50 %	13 km/h
March	91 mm	10	12 h/day	44 %	54 %	12 km/h
April	138 mm	13	12 h/day	55 %	60 %	12 km/h
May	85 mm	10	13 h/day	51 %	57 %	14 km/h
June	25 mm	6	13 h/day	46 %	50 %	17 km/h
July	85 mm	17	13 h/day	50 %	53 %	17 km/h
August	115 mm	20	12 h/day	50 %	54 %	16 km/h
September	95 mm	15	12 h/day	45 %	52 %	14 km/h
October	69 mm	8	12 h/day	40 %	50 %	13 km/h
November	34 mm	4	12 h/day	30 %	50 %	13 km/h
December	20 mm	3	12 h/day	27 %	50 %	12 km/h

How Dire Dawa 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
Dire Dawa	32 °C	14 °C	812 mm	346
Harar · Ethiopia	26 °C	12 °C	678 mm	88
Jijiga · Ethiopia	28 °C	12 °C	367 mm	217
Borama · Somalia	31 °C	11 °C	272 mm	298
Hargeysa · Somalia	31 °C	13 °C	208 mm	300
Djibouti · Djibouti	39 °C	22 °C	228 mm	365
Dessie · Ethiopia	24 °C	6.7 °C	738 mm	7

Where Dire Dawa ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Places with the best weather in Africa in January	26th of 50	92/100
Places with the best weather in Africa in December	40th of 50	93/100
Places with the best weather in Africa in February	48th of 50	88/100

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Dire Dawa.

QuestionsCommon questions about Dire Dawa’s climate

When is the best time to visit Dire Dawa?

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, June is the warmest month and December the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Dire Dawa get?

In June, the warmest month, daily highs average 32 °C. About 149 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 36 °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 Dire Dawa?

April, averaging 138 mm over 13 days with rain. The driest month is December with 20 mm. The year as a whole averages 812 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 Dire Dawa 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: 9.593°, 41.866° (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
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.