የአየር ሁኔታ · Weather in Ethiopia

How weather works in Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s weather is set by altitude first and season second. The country runs from highland plateaus above 2,400 meters down to desert below sea level, so on the same afternoon Addis Ababa can sit at a mild 21°C while Dire Dawa pushes past 34°C. Being this close to the equator, day length barely moves either: the sun rises and sets within about half an hour of 6:30 all year — the steady rhythm behind the Ethiopian clock, which starts counting the day at sunrise.

Instead of four seasons there are three. Kiremt (ክረምት), June to September, is the main rainy season and delivers most of the highlands’ annual rain. Bega (በጋ), October through February, is the long dry season — clear skies, warm days, cold nights, with frost possible on the high plateau. Belg (በልግ), the short rains between February and May, matters most to farmers and brings the lowlands their hottest weeks just before kiremt breaks.

City by city

The highlands

Most of the big cities sit on the plateau and share one pattern: mild days, cool nights, one wet season. Addis Ababa — at about 2,400 meters among the highest capital cities in the world — holds daytime highs near 20–25°C in every month; its coldest-feeling weeks are actually July and August, when kiremt cloud cover hides the sun and nights dip toward 8°C. Gondar and Dessie follow the same rhythm a notch cooler. Bahir Dar, down on the shore of Lake Tana, is warmer — highs approach 30°C before the rains — and gets some of the heaviest July–August downpours in the country. Mekelle, on the drier eastern edge of the plateau, squeezes most of its rain into those same two months.

The Rift Valley and the south

Adama, an hour down the escarpment from the capital, runs reliably about five degrees warmer and is famously windy — the ridges above town carry one of Ethiopia’s largest wind farms. South along the lakes, Hawassa and Shashamane stay warm and green much of the year, while Arba Minch, between lakes Abaya and Chamo, is one of the hottest of the major cities with highs in the low 30s. Jimma, in the wet southwest, barely has a dry season at all: coffee country sees rain from March right through October.

The east

Dire Dawa is the hot one — at roughly 1,200 meters it regularly tops 34°C in the weeks before the rains. Harar, only about fifty kilometers away but several hundred meters higher, is noticeably milder, one reason the old walled city was built where it is. Jijiga, out on the Somali plateau, is dry and warm with two short rainy windows a year instead of one long kiremt.

Reading this forecast

A few things are worth knowing when you read the numbers above. UV runs high here even on cool days — altitude plus tropical latitude pushes Addis Ababa to UV 8 and above at midday for much of the year, so mild air is not a reason to skip sun protection. During kiremt, rain probabilities of 80–100% in the highlands are completely normal and usually mean a hard afternoon downpour rather than all-day drizzle; mornings are often clear.

Forecast dates are shown on the Ethiopian calendar (ሐምሌ, ነሐሴ…), and sunrise and sunset appear in both standard time and Ethiopian time — the 12-hour clock that starts the day around sunrise at 12 ጠዋት. If either is new to you, our Ethiopian calendar and date converter explain both.

ምልክቶች · What the symbols mean

Every icon on this page in one place, in Amharic and English, so the forecast reads at a glance.

Weather icons

• ፀሐያማ · Clear sky

  Sunny with barely a cloud; at night the icon becomes a moon.

• ከፊል ደመናማ · Mainly clear / partly cloudy

  Some cloud, plenty of sun — the usual highland morning.

• ደመናማ · Overcast

  The sky fully covered in cloud, without rain falling yet.

• ጭጋጋማ · Fog

  Mist or fog cutting visibility — most common around dawn.

• ካፊያ · Drizzle

  Fine, light rain that hangs around rather than pours.

• ዝናባማ · Rain

  Steady rain — take the umbrella, not the hope.

• ዝናባማ · Rain showers

  Short bursts of rain that come and go — classic kiremt afternoons.

• ነጎድጓዳማ · Thunderstorm

  Thunder and lightning, usually with a heavy downpour.

• በረዶ · Snow / hail

  In Ethiopian cities this almost always means hail, not snow.

The small icons

• የሚሰማው ሙቀት · Feels like

  What the air actually feels like once wind and humidity are counted in.

• እርጥበት · Humidity

  In the stats row: how much moisture the air is holding.

• የዝናብ ዕድል · Chance of rain

  Under the hourly bars and beside each day: the probability of rain — 80% means rain is very likely at some point, not that it rains all day.

• ነፋስ · Wind

  Speed plus the compass point it blows from — SE means from the south-east.

• የፀሐይ ጨረር · UV index

  Sun strength at midday. At this altitude 8+ is normal — protect your skin even on cool days.

• የፀሐይ መውጣት · Sunrise

  Shown in standard time and in the Ethiopian clock (12 ጠዋት is around sunrise).

• የፀሐይ መጥለቅ · Sunset

  Also in both clocks — near the equator it barely shifts through the year.

• የአየር ጥራት · Air quality

  US AQI shown as a colored dot — green is good, yellow moderate, orange and red worse. Higher numbers mean dirtier air.

In the hourly strip

• የሙቀት መስመር · Temperature line

  The curve traces the temperature through the day; a number sits on every third hour.

• የዝናብ ዕድል · Rain bars

  The taller and bolder the blue bar, the likelier the rain that hour.

• ሌሊት · Night hours

  Columns with a shaded background fall after sunset — their icons switch to moons too.

• WED

  አዲስ ቀን · New day

  A thin line with the weekday and Ethiopian date in blue marks midnight — everything to its right is tomorrow.

Frequently asked questions

When is the rainy season in Ethiopia?

The main rainy season, kiremt (ክረምት), runs from June to September and brings most of the year's rain to Addis Ababa and the highlands. A shorter season, belg (በልግ), falls between February and May. The southwest around Jimma is the exception — it gets rain through most of the year — while the eastern lowlands around Dire Dawa and Jijiga see two shorter wet spells instead of one long one.

What is the weather like in Addis Ababa?

Mild all year. Daytime highs stay between roughly 20 and 25°C in every month, and nights are cool, often under 10°C. July and August are the cloudiest and wettest months; October to February is dry and sunny with the coldest nights. Because of the altitude, the sun is strong even on cool days.

Does it snow in Ethiopia?

Not in the cities. Highland towns like Addis Ababa, Gondar and Dessie can get hail and near-freezing nights in the dry season, but snow is essentially limited to rare dustings on the highest peaks — Ras Dashen in the Simien Mountains and the Bale range.

Which Ethiopian city is the hottest?

Of the major cities, Dire Dawa — expect highs in the mid-30s in the weeks before the rains, with Arba Minch not far behind. The hottest place in the country is the Danakil Depression in Afar, which has one of the highest year-round average temperatures on Earth.

What is the best time to visit Ethiopia for good weather?

October to February, the bega (በጋ) dry season. Skies are clear across the highlands, days are comfortable in Addis Ababa, Gondar, Bahir Dar and Hawassa, and trekking routes are dry. June to September is the wettest stretch in most of the country — though it is also when the landscape is at its greenest.

Why do sunrise and sunset barely change through the year?

Ethiopia sits just north of the equator, so daylight holds close to twelve hours in every season — in Addis Ababa the sun rises and sets within about half an hour of 6:30, all year. That steady rhythm is the basis of the Ethiopian clock, which counts hours from sunrise: 7:00 in the morning is 1 ጠዋት.