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

Djibouti tops the list at 31 °C in May. Ranked from 1991–2020 climate normals across 50 destinations in Africa.

Top three in May: Djibouti (31 °C) , Berbera (30 °C) , Malabo (29 °C) . Between first and 50th place the sea temp differs by 4.4 °C.

# Destination Country Sea temp Avg high Avg low Rainfall Wet days Sunshine Sea temp
1 Djibouti Djibouti 31 °C 34 °C 28 °C 16 mm 3 362 h 31 °C
2 Berbera Somalia 30 °C 34 °C 27 °C 11 mm 2 361 h 30 °C
3 Malabo Equatorial Guinea 29 °C 28 °C 26 °C 256 mm 28 274 h 29 °C
4 Victoria Seychelles 29 °C 28 °C 26 °C 126 mm 17 337 h 29 °C
5 Lekki Nigeria 29 °C 29 °C 26 °C 211 mm 26 281 h 29 °C
6 Lagos Nigeria 29 °C 29 °C 26 °C 211 mm 26 281 h 29 °C
7 Ebute Ikorodu Nigeria 29 °C 30 °C 25 °C 225 mm 27 279 h 29 °C
8 Agege Nigeria 29 °C 30 °C 25 °C 195 mm 25 282 h 29 °C
9 El Dibir Somalia 29 °C 33 °C 27 °C 15 mm 1 348 h 29 °C
10 Cotonou Benin 29 °C 29 °C 26 °C 172 mm 24 295 h 29 °C
11 Abomey-Calavi Benin 29 °C 29 °C 26 °C 169 mm 24 296 h 29 °C
12 Porto-Novo Benin 29 °C 30 °C 25 °C 171 mm 25 293 h 29 °C
13 Port Sudan Sudan 29 °C 35 °C 25 °C 0 mm 0 391 h 29 °C
14 Bata Equatorial Guinea 29 °C 29 °C 24 °C 279 mm 30 258 h 29 °C
15 Monrovia Liberia 29 °C 29 °C 24 °C 321 mm 30 292 h 29 °C
16 Lomé Togo 29 °C 30 °C 25 °C 155 mm 24 320 h 29 °C
17 Sekondi Ghana 29 °C 29 °C 25 °C 181 mm 26 306 h 29 °C
18 Takoradi Ghana 29 °C 29 °C 25 °C 193 mm 26 306 h 29 °C
19 Accra Ghana 29 °C 30 °C 25 °C 109 mm 19 320 h 29 °C
20 Mamoudzou Mayotte 29 °C 28 °C 26 °C 24 mm 6 346 h 29 °C
21 Cape Coast Ghana 29 °C 29 °C 25 °C 175 mm 27 307 h 29 °C
22 Ashaiman Ghana 29 °C 30 °C 25 °C 95 mm 16 320 h 29 °C
23 Mahajanga Madagascar 28 °C 32 °C 23 °C 8 mm 1 336 h 28 °C
24 Koumassi Ivory Coast 28 °C 28 °C 25 °C 225 mm 28 299 h 28 °C
25 San-Pédro Ivory Coast 28 °C 29 °C 24 °C 201 mm 27 294 h 28 °C
26 Abidjan Ivory Coast 28 °C 29 °C 24 °C 238 mm 29 299 h 28 °C
27 Libreville Gabon 28 °C 29 °C 24 °C 239 mm 26 284 h 28 °C
28 Moroni Comoros 28 °C 29 °C 25 °C 89 mm 17 348 h 28 °C
29 São Tomé Sao Tome and Principe 28 °C 28 °C 26 °C 135 mm 18 302 h 28 °C
30 Freetown Sierra Leone 28 °C 28 °C 26 °C 236 mm 25 303 h 28 °C
31 Pemba Mozambique 28 °C 28 °C 22 °C 22 mm 5 339 h 28 °C
32 Mogadishu Somalia 28 °C 30 °C 26 °C 72 mm 17 362 h 28 °C
33 Nacala Mozambique 28 °C 28 °C 22 °C 16 mm 4 338 h 28 °C
34 Conakry Guinea 28 °C 29 °C 26 °C 91 mm 14 320 h 28 °C
35 Zanzibar Tanzania 28 °C 28 °C 24 °C 150 mm 19 308 h 28 °C
36 Tanga Tanzania 28 °C 28 °C 23 °C 174 mm 19 303 h 28 °C
37 Kismayo Somalia 28 °C 30 °C 25 °C 90 mm 18 352 h 28 °C
38 Manéah Guinea 28 °C 31 °C 25 °C 95 mm 14 316 h 28 °C
39 Dubréka Guinea 28 °C 32 °C 25 °C 90 mm 14 318 h 28 °C
40 Mombasa Kenya 28 °C 28 °C 24 °C 176 mm 20 298 h 28 °C
41 Dar es Salaam Tanzania 28 °C 28 °C 24 °C 131 mm 19 314 h 28 °C
42 Matuga Kenya 28 °C 27 °C 23 °C 228 mm 23 300 h 28 °C
43 Jomvu Kenya 28 °C 28 °C 24 °C 167 mm 20 297 h 28 °C
44 Port-Gentil Gabon 28 °C 28 °C 25 °C 172 mm 24 299 h 28 °C
45 Bissau Guinea-Bissau 28 °C 33 °C 24 °C 6 mm 1 358 h 28 °C
46 Toamasina Madagascar 27 °C 25 °C 21 °C 158 mm 21 304 h 27 °C
47 Quelimane Mozambique 27 °C 27 °C 21 °C 34 mm 8 335 h 27 °C
48 Saint-Denis Reunion 27 °C 26 °C 22 °C 72 mm 15 322 h 27 °C
49 Port Louis Mauritius 27 °C 27 °C 23 °C 59 mm 13 319 h 27 °C
50 Toliara Madagascar 26 °C 29 °C 20 °C 7 mm 2 317 h 26 °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

April: top 5

  1. Victoria 30 °C
  2. Mahajanga 30 °C
  3. Mamoudzou 29 °C
  4. Malabo 29 °C
  5. Bata 29 °C

Full ranking for April

June: top 5

  1. Djibouti 31 °C
  2. Berbera 31 °C
  3. El Dibir 30 °C
  4. Port Sudan 30 °C
  5. Freetown 28 °C

Full ranking for June

How this ranking is built

What is ranked
The average sea surface temperature at the coast, in °C, in May, 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.