Bamako climate

Name: Bamako
Address: ML

Bamako is warmest in April, with average highs of 39 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average 18 °C. August is the wettest month (243 mm) and December the driest (0.1 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Bamako averages 773 mm of rain and 364 days above 25 °C.

Mali · population 4,227,569 · 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 39 °C
Coldest month January 18 °C
Driest month December 0 mm
Wettest month August 243 mm
Least cloud February 28 % cloud
Hottest on record April 43 °C
Coldest on record January 11 °C

What to expectBamako through the year

Bamako has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 32 °C in January to 39 °C in April, a swing of 7.8 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 364 days a year reach 25 °C, 300 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 43 °C, in April.

Rain is strongly seasonal. August averages 243 mm against 0 mm in December — 1,732 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	32.5 °C	1 mm	33 %
February	35.4 °C	1 mm	28 %
March	38.0 °C	2 mm	36 %
April	39.2 °C	6 mm	49 %
May	38.0 °C	32 mm	59 %
June	34.5 °C	91 mm	56 %
July	30.2 °C	189 mm	68 %
August	29.0 °C	243 mm	77 %
September	29.9 °C	158 mm	65 %
October	32.3 °C	49 mm	53 %
November	34.3 °C	2 mm	41 %
December	32.9 °C	under 1 mm	35 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	32.5 °C	18.1 °C	24.9 °C	38.3 °C	11.3 °C	31	27
February	35.4 °C	20.6 °C	27.7 °C	40.6 °C	13.1 °C	28	27
March	38.0 °C	23.6 °C	30.8 °C	41.8 °C	14.2 °C	31	31
April	39.2 °C	26.3 °C	32.8 °C	43.1 °C	20.5 °C	30	30
May	38.0 °C	26.5 °C	32.0 °C	43.0 °C	21.6 °C	31	31
June	34.5 °C	24.8 °C	29.2 °C	42.2 °C	22.0 °C	30	29
July	30.2 °C	23.0 °C	26.2 °C	37.0 °C	21.0 °C	31	16
August	29.0 °C	22.5 °C	25.3 °C	32.7 °C	20.5 °C	31	7
September	29.9 °C	22.5 °C	25.8 °C	35.0 °C	19.9 °C	30	15
October	32.3 °C	22.8 °C	27.2 °C	37.8 °C	18.0 °C	31	27
November	34.3 °C	20.9 °C	27.5 °C	36.9 °C	17.0 °C	30	30
December	32.9 °C	18.7 °C	25.4 °C	37.1 °C	12.5 °C	31	29

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	1 mm	0	11 h/day	33 %	22 %	16 km/h
February	1 mm	0	12 h/day	28 %	17 %	16 km/h
March	2 mm	1	12 h/day	36 %	19 %	16 km/h
April	6 mm	2	12 h/day	49 %	31 %	16 km/h
May	32 mm	7	13 h/day	59 %	48 %	16 km/h
June	91 mm	14	13 h/day	56 %	67 %	16 km/h
July	189 mm	21	13 h/day	68 %	81 %	14 km/h
August	243 mm	24	13 h/day	77 %	85 %	14 km/h
September	158 mm	20	12 h/day	65 %	84 %	12 km/h
October	49 mm	8	12 h/day	53 %	72 %	11 km/h
November	2 mm	0	12 h/day	41 %	37 %	13 km/h
December	under 1 mm	0	11 h/day	35 %	25 %	15 km/h

How Bamako 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
Bamako	39 °C	18 °C	773 mm	364
Ségou · Mali	40 °C	18 °C	507 mm	364
Koutiala · Mali	39 °C	18 °C	682 mm	364
Kankan · Guinea	37 °C	19 °C	1,360 mm	362
Sikasso · Mali	38 °C	18 °C	915 mm	363

Where Bamako ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
The warmest places in Africa in March	19th of 50	38 °C
The warmest places in the world in March	19th of 50	38 °C
The warmest places in Africa in April	21st of 50	39 °C
The warmest places in Africa in May	21st of 50	38 °C
The warmest places in Africa in November	25th of 50	34 °C
The warmest places in Africa in February	29th of 50	35 °C

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Bamako.

QuestionsCommon questions about Bamako’s climate

When is the best time to visit Bamako?

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

How hot does Bamako get?

In April, the warmest month, daily highs average 39 °C. About 300 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 43 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 18 °C in January, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Bamako?

August, averaging 243 mm over 24 days with rain. The driest month is December with 0 mm. The year as a whole averages 773 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 Bamako 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: 12.609°, -7.975° (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.