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Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in January: ranked by sea temperature

2 destinations share the top spot at 29 °C in January, listed by beach score, starting with Mahajanga. Ranked from 1991–2020 climate normals across 50 destinations in Africa.

Top three in January: Mahajanga (29 °C) , Beira (29 °C) , Mamoudzou (29 °C) . Between first and 50th place the sea temp differs by 2.8 °C.

# Destination Country Sea temp Avg high Avg low Rainfall Wet days Sunshine Sea temp
1 Mahajanga Madagascar 29 °C 30 °C 24 °C 419 mm 28 280 h 29 °C
2 Beira Mozambique 29 °C 31 °C 24 °C 205 mm 19 338 h 29 °C
3 Mamoudzou Mayotte 29 °C 28 °C 26 °C 234 mm 22 319 h 29 °C
4 Moroni Comoros 29 °C 30 °C 26 °C 264 mm 23 332 h 29 °C
5 Toliara Madagascar 29 °C 31 °C 25 °C 199 mm 18 362 h 29 °C
6 Quelimane Mozambique 29 °C 30 °C 25 °C 227 mm 21 343 h 29 °C
7 Malabo Equatorial Guinea 29 °C 28 °C 26 °C 49 mm 14 328 h 29 °C
8 Nacala Mozambique 29 °C 29 °C 24 °C 328 mm 26 318 h 29 °C
9 Pemba Mozambique 29 °C 30 °C 25 °C 249 mm 25 319 h 29 °C
10 São Tomé Sao Tome and Principe 29 °C 28 °C 26 °C 150 mm 24 313 h 29 °C
11 Libreville Gabon 29 °C 29 °C 24 °C 255 mm 29 292 h 29 °C
12 Bata Equatorial Guinea 29 °C 29 °C 24 °C 175 mm 28 285 h 29 °C
13 Dar es Salaam Tanzania 28 °C 31 °C 26 °C 57 mm 10 356 h 28 °C
14 Victoria Seychelles 28 °C 27 °C 26 °C 218 mm 21 326 h 28 °C
15 Zanzibar Tanzania 28 °C 30 °C 26 °C 44 mm 9 359 h 28 °C
16 Toamasina Madagascar 28 °C 28 °C 24 °C 327 mm 25 305 h 28 °C
17 Port-Gentil Gabon 28 °C 28 °C 24 °C 284 mm 29 288 h 28 °C
18 Monrovia Liberia 28 °C 29 °C 24 °C 82 mm 16 329 h 28 °C
19 Lekki Nigeria 28 °C 30 °C 25 °C 30 mm 8 337 h 28 °C
20 Ajegunle Nigeria 28 °C 31 °C 24 °C 32 mm 8 338 h 28 °C
21 Ebute Ikorodu Nigeria 28 °C 32 °C 24 °C 32 mm 8 336 h 28 °C
22 Tanga Tanzania 28 °C 32 °C 25 °C 34 mm 7 362 h 28 °C
23 Agege Nigeria 28 °C 32 °C 23 °C 31 mm 8 337 h 28 °C
24 Abomey-Calavi Benin 28 °C 30 °C 25 °C 25 mm 7 335 h 28 °C
25 Cotonou Benin 28 °C 29 °C 25 °C 30 mm 8 337 h 28 °C
26 Porto-Novo Benin 28 °C 31 °C 24 °C 30 mm 8 336 h 28 °C
27 Saint-Denis Reunion 28 °C 28 °C 25 °C 266 mm 21 366 h 28 °C
28 Freetown Sierra Leone 28 °C 28 °C 25 °C 13 mm 3 335 h 28 °C
29 Matuga Kenya 28 °C 30 °C 24 °C 26 mm 5 358 h 28 °C
30 Mombasa Kenya 28 °C 31 °C 25 °C 29 mm 6 355 h 28 °C
31 Jomvu Kenya 28 °C 32 °C 24 °C 31 mm 6 355 h 28 °C
32 Port Louis Mauritius 28 °C 30 °C 25 °C 194 mm 23 364 h 28 °C
33 Conakry Guinea 28 °C 30 °C 23 °C 3 mm 1 333 h 28 °C
34 Manéah Guinea 28 °C 32 °C 21 °C 3 mm 1 331 h 28 °C
35 Dubréka Guinea 28 °C 33 °C 22 °C 3 mm 1 331 h 28 °C
36 San-Pédro Ivory Coast 27 °C 29 °C 24 °C 51 mm 13 324 h 27 °C
37 Sekondi Ghana 27 °C 29 °C 25 °C 42 mm 11 330 h 27 °C
38 Takoradi Ghana 27 °C 30 °C 24 °C 44 mm 11 330 h 27 °C
39 Pointe-Noire Republic of the Congo 27 °C 28 °C 24 °C 221 mm 26 278 h 27 °C
40 Koumassi Ivory Coast 27 °C 29 °C 25 °C 81 mm 16 326 h 27 °C
41 Abidjan Ivory Coast 27 °C 30 °C 24 °C 86 mm 17 325 h 27 °C
42 Accra Ghana 27 °C 31 °C 25 °C 26 mm 7 335 h 27 °C
43 Lomé Togo 27 °C 31 °C 25 °C 24 mm 6 340 h 27 °C
44 Soyo Angola 27 °C 28 °C 25 °C 113 mm 18 306 h 27 °C
45 Ashaiman Ghana 27 °C 32 °C 25 °C 17 mm 4 338 h 27 °C
46 Cape Coast Ghana 27 °C 30 °C 24 °C 40 mm 11 327 h 27 °C
47 Cabinda Angola 27 °C 28 °C 24 °C 193 mm 24 303 h 27 °C
48 Xai-Xai Mozambique 27 °C 30 °C 23 °C 129 mm 13 357 h 27 °C
49 Kismayo Somalia 27 °C 31 °C 25 °C 15 mm 1 353 h 27 °C
50 Mogadishu Somalia 27 °C 31 °C 24 °C 7 mm 1 361 h 27 °C

Monthly values for the month named in the ranking; only destinations with a published climate page are ranked. Download this ranking as CSV.

The same ranking one month earlier and later

December: top 5

  1. Mahajanga 29 °C
  2. Mamoudzou 29 °C
  3. Moroni 29 °C
  4. Malabo 29 °C
  5. Beira 29 °C

Full ranking for December

February: top 5

  1. Beira 30 °C
  2. Mahajanga 29 °C
  3. Toliara 29 °C
  4. Mamoudzou 29 °C
  5. Moroni 29 °C

Full ranking for February

How this ranking is built

What is ranked
The average sea surface temperature at the coast, in °C, in January, highest first.
Period
1991–2020 climate normals: the same 30 years for every destination, so the list compares like with like.
Who is included
50 destinations in Africa with a published climate page. Neighbouring places that share a climate series are shown once.
Ties
Equal values are ordered by beach score.
Sources
ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis via Open-Meteo; sea temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1. Measured values are reproduced unchanged; only the ordering is ours.

Data sources and method

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

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: ranking order, 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.