Freetown climate

Name: Freetown
Address: SL

Freetown is warmest in December, with average highs of 28 °C, and coldest in August, when nights average 24 °C. August is the wettest month (691 mm) and February the driest (7.2 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Freetown averages 3,006 mm of rain and 360 days above 25 °C.

Sierra Leone · population 802,639 · 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 December 28 °C
Coldest month August 24 °C
Driest month February 7 mm
Wettest month August 691 mm
Least cloud January 39 % cloud
Hottest on record October 36 °C
Coldest on record January 21 °C
Warmest sea November 29 °C

What to expectFreetown through the year

Freetown changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 26 and 28 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Counted across a normal year, 360 days a year reach 25 °C, 5 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 36 °C, in October.

Rain is strongly seasonal. August averages 691 mm against 7 mm in February — 95 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Freetown is warmest in November at 29 °C and coldest in August at 27 °C. Sea temperature lags the air by a month or two, which is why late summer swims warmer than early summer at the same air temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	28.0 °C	13 mm	39 %
February	27.7 °C	7 mm	39 %
March	27.7 °C	18 mm	48 %
April	27.9 °C	46 mm	59 %
May	28.0 °C	236 mm	79 %
June	27.2 °C	424 mm	85 %
July	26.2 °C	598 mm	88 %
August	25.9 °C	691 mm	90 %
September	26.5 °C	495 mm	88 %
October	27.3 °C	297 mm	80 %
November	27.9 °C	144 mm	63 %
December	28.2 °C	36 mm	45 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	28.0 °C	25.2 °C	26.6 °C	34.6 °C	20.7 °C	31	2
February	27.7 °C	25.2 °C	26.4 °C	34.1 °C	21.7 °C	28	1
March	27.7 °C	25.5 °C	26.5 °C	34.3 °C	22.1 °C	31	0
April	27.9 °C	25.8 °C	26.7 °C	31.0 °C	22.9 °C	30	0
May	28.0 °C	25.5 °C	26.8 °C	30.5 °C	22.9 °C	31	0
June	27.2 °C	24.4 °C	25.8 °C	31.6 °C	22.2 °C	30	0
July	26.2 °C	23.8 °C	25.0 °C	29.5 °C	22.0 °C	30	0
August	25.9 °C	23.8 °C	24.8 °C	28.9 °C	21.9 °C	29	0
September	26.5 °C	23.8 °C	25.2 °C	28.8 °C	22.3 °C	29	0
October	27.3 °C	24.2 °C	25.8 °C	36.3 °C	22.1 °C	31	0
November	27.9 °C	25.0 °C	26.5 °C	30.4 °C	22.3 °C	30	0
December	28.2 °C	25.7 °C	27.0 °C	30.8 °C	21.7 °C	31	1

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	13 mm	3	12 h/day	39 %	77 %	13 km/h	27.6 °C
February	7 mm	2	12 h/day	39 %	79 %	14 km/h	27.3 °C
March	18 mm	4	12 h/day	48 %	80 %	15 km/h	27.2 °C
April	46 mm	8	12 h/day	59 %	81 %	14 km/h	27.5 °C
May	236 mm	25	13 h/day	79 %	83 %	12 km/h	28.2 °C
June	424 mm	30	13 h/day	85 %	85 %	12 km/h	28.2 °C
July	598 mm	30	13 h/day	88 %	86 %	14 km/h	27.4 °C
August	691 mm	29	12 h/day	90 %	86 %	15 km/h	26.8 °C
September	495 mm	29	12 h/day	88 %	86 %	12 km/h	27.2 °C
October	297 mm	30	12 h/day	80 %	85 %	10 km/h	28.0 °C
November	144 mm	24	12 h/day	63 %	83 %	9.0 km/h	28.7 °C
December	36 mm	9	12 h/day	45 %	78 %	11 km/h	28.5 °C

How Freetown 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
Freetown	28 °C	24 °C	3,006 mm	360
Conakry · Guinea	30 °C	23 °C	2,710 mm	360
Manéah · Guinea	33 °C	21 °C	2,580 mm	356
Dubréka · Guinea	34 °C	22 °C	2,561 mm	359
Bo · Sierra Leone	34 °C	22 °C	2,509 mm	353
Kindia · Guinea	36 °C	20 °C	1,716 mm	349
Kenema · Sierra Leone	34 °C	22 °C	2,287 mm	352

Where Freetown ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Best beach destinations in Africa in January	3rdof 50	98/100
Best beach destinations in Africa in February	4thof 50	99/100
Best beach destinations in Africa in March	4thof 50	96/100
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in June	5thof 50	28 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in November	7thof 50	29 °C
Best beach destinations in Africa in April	12thof 50	88/100

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Freetown’s climate

When is the best time to visit Freetown?

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

How hot does Freetown get?

In December, the warmest month, daily highs average 28 °C. About 5 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 24 °C in August, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Freetown?

August, averaging 691 mm over 29 days with rain. The driest month is February with 7 mm. The year as a whole averages 3,006 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 Freetown 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
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.