Zanzibar climate

Name: Zanzibar
Address: TZ

Zanzibar is warmest in February, with average highs of 31 °C, and coldest in August, when nights average 22 °C. April is the wettest month (215 mm) and September the driest (23 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Zanzibar averages 913 mm of rain and 364 days above 25 °C.

Tanzania · population 709,809 · 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 September 23 mm
Wettest month April 215 mm
Least cloud September 34 % cloud
Hottest on record March 35 °C
Coldest on record August 20 °C
Warmest sea March 29 °C

What to expectZanzibar through the year

Zanzibar has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 28 °C in August to 31 °C in February, a swing of 3.4 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 364 days a year reach 25 °C, 91 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 35 °C, in March.

Rain is strongly seasonal. April averages 215 mm against 23 mm in September — 9.5 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Zanzibar is warmest in March at 29 °C and coldest in August at 26 °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	30.2 °C	44 mm	56 %
February	30.7 °C	37 mm	57 %
March	30.3 °C	121 mm	61 %
April	28.6 °C	215 mm	66 %
May	27.7 °C	150 mm	55 %
June	27.4 °C	38 mm	46 %
July	27.3 °C	25 mm	45 %
August	27.7 °C	24 mm	41 %
September	28.6 °C	23 mm	34 %
October	29.3 °C	59 mm	39 %
November	29.4 °C	87 mm	48 %
December	29.8 °C	91 mm	50 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	30.2 °C	26.0 °C	27.8 °C	33.8 °C	22.7 °C	31	18
February	30.7 °C	26.1 °C	28.0 °C	34.3 °C	23.8 °C	28	22
March	30.3 °C	25.6 °C	27.7 °C	35.2 °C	23.6 °C	31	18
April	28.6 °C	24.8 °C	26.5 °C	32.9 °C	23.3 °C	30	4
May	27.7 °C	24.3 °C	25.8 °C	31.8 °C	21.5 °C	31	1
June	27.4 °C	23.4 °C	25.2 °C	29.8 °C	21.5 °C	30	0
July	27.3 °C	22.7 °C	24.7 °C	29.6 °C	20.8 °C	31	0
August	27.7 °C	22.5 °C	24.7 °C	30.2 °C	19.9 °C	31	0
September	28.6 °C	22.9 °C	25.3 °C	31.5 °C	20.2 °C	30	1
October	29.3 °C	23.7 °C	26.2 °C	31.9 °C	20.8 °C	31	7
November	29.4 °C	24.5 °C	26.8 °C	32.1 °C	21.9 °C	30	8
December	29.8 °C	25.4 °C	27.4 °C	33.1 °C	23.4 °C	31	12

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	44 mm	9	12 h/day	56 %	76 %	21 km/h	28.3 °C
February	37 mm	8	12 h/day	57 %	75 %	20 km/h	28.5 °C
March	121 mm	21	12 h/day	61 %	79 %	16 km/h	29.3 °C
April	215 mm	25	12 h/day	66 %	84 %	17 km/h	28.9 °C
May	150 mm	19	12 h/day	55 %	83 %	18 km/h	28.0 °C
June	38 mm	10	12 h/day	46 %	78 %	20 km/h	27.0 °C
July	25 mm	7	12 h/day	45 %	76 %	21 km/h	26.0 °C
August	24 mm	7	12 h/day	41 %	76 %	19 km/h	25.6 °C
September	23 mm	6	12 h/day	34 %	75 %	18 km/h	25.9 °C
October	59 mm	10	12 h/day	39 %	76 %	18 km/h	26.8 °C
November	87 mm	18	12 h/day	48 %	79 %	16 km/h	27.9 °C
December	91 mm	19	12 h/day	50 %	79 %	18 km/h	28.6 °C

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

Where Zanzibar ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in March	5th of 50	29 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in December	10th of 50	29 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in January	15th of 50	28 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in February	16th of 50	29 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in April	17th of 50	29 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa year-round	21st of 50	28 °C

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Zanzibar’s climate

When is the best time to visit Zanzibar?

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 September the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Zanzibar get?

In February, the warmest month, daily highs average 31 °C. About 91 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 Zanzibar?

April, averaging 215 mm over 25 days with rain. The driest month is September with 23 mm. The year as a whole averages 913 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 Zanzibar 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: -6.164°, 39.198° (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.