Sumbawanga climate

Name: Sumbawanga
Address: TZ

Sumbawanga is warmest in October, with average highs of 26 °C, and coldest in July, when nights average 11 °C. January is the wettest month (283 mm) and July the driest (0.9 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Sumbawanga averages 1,376 mm of rain and 69 days above 25 °C.

Tanzania · population 303,986 · 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 October 26 °C
Coldest month July 11 °C
Driest month July 1 mm
Wettest month January 283 mm
Least cloud July 30 % cloud
Hottest on record October 30 °C
Coldest on record July 7.1 °C

What to expectSumbawanga through the year

Sumbawanga has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 23 °C in July to 26 °C in October, a swing of 4.2 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 69 days a year reach 25 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 30 °C, in October.

Rain is strongly seasonal. January averages 283 mm against 1 mm in July — 303 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	22.4 °C	283 mm	91 %
February	22.7 °C	221 mm	89 %
March	22.7 °C	259 mm	86 %
April	22.4 °C	146 mm	70 %
May	22.8 °C	26 mm	44 %
June	22.7 °C	2 mm	35 %
July	22.6 °C	1 mm	30 %
August	24.0 °C	2 mm	33 %
September	25.5 °C	8 mm	40 %
October	26.0 °C	35 mm	60 %
November	24.6 °C	130 mm	76 %
December	22.7 °C	262 mm	85 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C
January	22.4 °C	15.0 °C	18.4 °C	26.1 °C	12.6 °C	0
February	22.7 °C	15.1 °C	18.5 °C	26.5 °C	12.2 °C	0
March	22.7 °C	15.2 °C	18.6 °C	25.4 °C	12.9 °C	0
April	22.4 °C	14.7 °C	18.3 °C	25.0 °C	10.4 °C	0
May	22.8 °C	13.5 °C	18.0 °C	26.1 °C	9.6 °C	0
June	22.7 °C	11.7 °C	17.1 °C	25.9 °C	8.5 °C	0
July	22.6 °C	11.1 °C	16.8 °C	27.2 °C	7.1 °C	1
August	24.0 °C	12.5 °C	18.3 °C	28.3 °C	8.4 °C	7
September	25.5 °C	14.2 °C	20.0 °C	29.4 °C	10.5 °C	20
October	26.0 °C	15.9 °C	21.0 °C	29.5 °C	12.8 °C	25
November	24.6 °C	15.9 °C	20.0 °C	29.1 °C	12.2 °C	13
December	22.7 °C	15.2 °C	18.7 °C	27.7 °C	12.3 °C	3

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	283 mm	27	13 h/day	91 %	86 %	10 km/h
February	221 mm	23	12 h/day	89 %	85 %	11 km/h
March	259 mm	25	12 h/day	86 %	85 %	11 km/h
April	146 mm	17	12 h/day	70 %	82 %	14 km/h
May	26 mm	4	12 h/day	44 %	70 %	14 km/h
June	2 mm	0	12 h/day	35 %	59 %	14 km/h
July	1 mm	0	12 h/day	30 %	55 %	14 km/h
August	2 mm	0	12 h/day	33 %	51 %	15 km/h
September	8 mm	1	12 h/day	40 %	48 %	16 km/h
October	35 mm	5	12 h/day	60 %	52 %	16 km/h
November	130 mm	15	12 h/day	76 %	66 %	14 km/h
December	262 mm	26	13 h/day	85 %	81 %	11 km/h

How Sumbawanga 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
Sumbawanga	26 °C	11 °C	1,376 mm	69
Mpanda · Tanzania	32 °C	15 °C	909 mm	346
Tunduma · Tanzania	28 °C	10 °C	1,219 mm	98
Mbeya · Tanzania	27 °C	12 °C	1,930 mm	124
Kasama · Zambia	31 °C	11 °C	1,186 mm	232
Kalemie · Democratic Republic of the Congo	30 °C	20 °C	1,133 mm	344
Tabora · Tanzania	31 °C	17 °C	769 mm	348

Where Sumbawanga ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Places with the best weather in Africa in August	1stof 50	98/100
Places with the best weather in the world in August	1stof 50	98/100
Places with the best weather in Africa in June	2ndof 50	98/100
Places with the best weather in the world in June	2ndof 50	98/100
Places with the best weather in Africa in July	4thof 50	98/100
Places with the best weather in the world in July	4thof 50	98/100

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Sumbawanga’s climate

When is the best time to visit Sumbawanga?

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

How hot does Sumbawanga get?

In October, the warmest month, daily highs average 26 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 30 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 11 °C in July, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Sumbawanga?

January, averaging 283 mm over 27 days with rain. The driest month is July with 1 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,376 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 Sumbawanga 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.