Dar es Salaam climate

Name: Dar es Salaam
Address: TZ

Dar es Salaam is warmest in February, with average highs of 31 °C, and coldest in August, when nights average 22 °C. April is the wettest month (201 mm) and July the driest (20 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Dar es Salaam averages 942 mm of rain and 364 days above 25 °C.

Tanzania · population 5,383,728 · 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 February 31 °C
Coldest month August 22 °C
Driest month July 20 mm
Wettest month April 201 mm
Least cloud September 35 % cloud
Hottest on record February 35 °C
Coldest on record September 19 °C
Warmest sea March 29 °C

What to expectDar es Salaam through the year

Dar es Salaam has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 28 °C in August to 31 °C in February, a swing of 3.5 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 364 days a year reach 25 °C, 114 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 35 °C, in February.

Rain is strongly seasonal. April averages 201 mm against 20 mm in July — 10 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Dar es Salaam is warmest in March at 29 °C and coldest in August at 25 °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	30.7 °C	57 mm	61 %
February	31.3 °C	60 mm	62 %
March	30.4 °C	156 mm	65 %
April	28.9 °C	201 mm	68 %
May	28.0 °C	131 mm	54 %
June	27.5 °C	34 mm	44 %
July	27.3 °C	20 mm	42 %
August	27.7 °C	21 mm	40 %
September	28.7 °C	22 mm	35 %
October	29.5 °C	58 mm	41 %
November	29.8 °C	89 mm	49 %
December	30.1 °C	92 mm	54 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	30.7 °C	25.5 °C	27.6 °C	33.4 °C	23.3 °C	31	23
February	31.3 °C	25.6 °C	27.9 °C	35.4 °C	23.6 °C	28	24
March	30.4 °C	25.1 °C	27.4 °C	34.0 °C	23.1 °C	31	20
April	28.9 °C	24.3 °C	26.2 °C	32.4 °C	22.1 °C	30	5
May	28.0 °C	23.7 °C	25.6 °C	31.9 °C	21.0 °C	31	1
June	27.5 °C	22.8 °C	24.8 °C	30.6 °C	20.1 °C	30	0
July	27.3 °C	22.2 °C	24.3 °C	30.3 °C	19.7 °C	30	0
August	27.7 °C	22.0 °C	24.5 °C	31.0 °C	19.6 °C	31	0
September	28.7 °C	22.5 °C	25.2 °C	32.0 °C	18.9 °C	30	2
October	29.5 °C	23.3 °C	26.0 °C	32.3 °C	21.1 °C	31	9
November	29.8 °C	24.2 °C	26.7 °C	32.9 °C	22.2 °C	30	12
December	30.1 °C	25.0 °C	27.2 °C	33.0 °C	22.9 °C	31	17

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	57 mm	10	12 h/day	61 %	77 %	18 km/h	28.4 °C
February	60 mm	10	12 h/day	62 %	76 %	17 km/h	28.6 °C
March	156 mm	22	12 h/day	65 %	81 %	13 km/h	29.2 °C
April	201 mm	25	12 h/day	68 %	85 %	14 km/h	28.8 °C
May	131 mm	19	12 h/day	54 %	84 %	17 km/h	27.9 °C
June	34 mm	8	12 h/day	44 %	79 %	18 km/h	26.9 °C
July	20 mm	6	12 h/day	42 %	77 %	19 km/h	25.9 °C
August	21 mm	6	12 h/day	40 %	77 %	17 km/h	25.4 °C
September	22 mm	6	12 h/day	35 %	76 %	17 km/h	25.8 °C
October	58 mm	11	12 h/day	41 %	77 %	16 km/h	26.5 °C
November	89 mm	17	12 h/day	49 %	80 %	15 km/h	27.6 °C
December	92 mm	17	13 h/day	54 %	80 %	16 km/h	28.5 °C

How Dar es Salaam 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
Dar es Salaam	31 °C	22 °C	942 mm	364
Kibaha · Tanzania	32 °C	20 °C	965 mm	363
Zanzibar · Tanzania	31 °C	22 °C	913 mm	364
Morogoro · Tanzania	31 °C	17 °C	853 mm	357
Tanga · Tanzania	33 °C	21 °C	965 mm	363
Matuga · Kenya	31 °C	22 °C	1,006 mm	341
Mombasa · Kenya	32 °C	22 °C	861 mm	361

Where Dar es Salaam ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in March	12th of 50	29 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in January	13th of 50	28 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in February	15th of 50	29 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in December	18th of 50	29 °C
Best beach destinations in Africa in August	22nd of 50	94/100
Best beach destinations in Africa in July	22nd of 50	95/100

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Dar es Salaam.

QuestionsCommon questions about Dar es Salaam’s climate

When is the best time to visit Dar es Salaam?

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

How hot does Dar es Salaam get?

In February, the warmest month, daily highs average 31 °C. About 114 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 35 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 22 °C in August, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Dar es Salaam?

April, averaging 201 mm over 25 days with rain. The driest month is July with 20 mm. The year as a whole averages 942 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 Dar es Salaam 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: -6.823°, 39.270° (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.