Climate and average weather in Khulm

In Khulm, the summers are sweltering, dry, and clear and the winters are cool, snowy, and partly cloudy.

Best: late September to early November

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Khulm typically varies from 1°C to 38°C, and is rarely below -5°C or above 41°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Khulm for warm-weather activities is from late September to early November.

Hottest
Jul
38°
Coldest
Jan
Wettest
Mar
60 mm
Driest
Aug
0 mm
Rain / yr
303 mm
60 wet days
Daylight
9.5–14.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
445 m
36.7°N
Clearest
Aug
4% cloud

Khulm is city in Afghanistan.

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Khulm weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around late September to early November.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Khulm, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 4.1 months, from May 18 to September 19, with daily high temperatures above 30°C. The hottest month of the year in Khulm is July, with an average high of 38°C and low of 24°C.

The cool season lasts 3.5 months, from November 19 to March 3, with daily high temperatures below 14°C. The coldest month of the year in Khulm is January, with an average low of 1°C and high of 9°C.

Days typically run about 11°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 14°C) in September.

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan91
Feb113
Mar178
Apr2413
May3018
Jun3622
Jul3824
Aug3622
Sep3117
Oct2311
Nov156
Dec102

How hot and cold Khulm really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Khulm feels like about 38°C (around July 7). About 108 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in July.

On the coldest nights, wind chill pulls the feels-like down to about -1°C (around January 11), with roughly 45 freezing days a year (feels-like at or below 0°C), worst in January.

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan99-11
Feb111113
Mar171778
Apr24241313
May30301818
Jun36362222
Jul37382424
Aug36362222
Sep31311717
Oct23231111
Nov151556
Dec101012

Average hourly temperature in Khulm

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on July afternoons, near 38°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Khulm weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysSnow daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan / 378.41.99.81.8
Feb11° / 489.52.410.62.7
Mar17° / 6010.90.511.75.2
Apr24° / 13°559.3012.96.9
May30° / 18°275.2013.95.8
Jun36° / 22°30.6014.53.0
Jul38° / 24°10.2014.31.8
Aug36° / 22°00.1013.43.0
Sep31° / 17°20.4012.26.3
Oct23° / 11°81.9011.18.7
Nov15° / 336.70.4105.2
Dec10° / 296.41.39.52.5

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Khulm gets about 303 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.5 months, from around Nov 3 to May 18, peaking in March at about 37% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 16.

March is the wettest month by volume, with 60 mm over about 11 wet days; August is the driest, with 0 mm. Some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMar 19 · 37%Aug 16 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan278
Feb3310
Mar3511
Apr309
May175
Jun21
Jul10
Aug00
Sep10
Oct72
Nov217
Dec216

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Khulm collects about 303 mm of rain across 60 wet days — roughly 25 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. March is the wettest month with 60 mm, while August is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 54% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

0255075JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec3748605527310283329
Rainfall (mm)Rain daysSnow days
Jan3782
Feb48102
Mar60111
Apr5590
May2750
Jun310
Jul100
Aug000
Sep200
Oct820
Nov3370
Dec2961

Snow in Khulm

Average snowy days through the year, the snow-season span, and estimated snowfall — for ski trips and the perennial 'will there be snow at Christmas?' question.

Khulm averages about 7 snowy days a year. Snow season runs roughly Nov 18 to Mar 16 — about 3.9 months.

February is snowiest, with roughly 2 days of snow and an estimated 9 cm of snowfall. Over the year that adds up to an estimated 24 cm of snow.

0246JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsnow seasonsnow seasonFeb 6
Snow daysSnowfall (cm)
Jan26
Feb29
Mar12
Apr00
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep00
Oct00
Nov02
Dec15

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Khulm, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around May 13 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around November 2. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 99% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 3 and lasts for 6.3 months, ending around May 12. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 57% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 27 · 100%Feb 21 · 42%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4654
Feb4357
Mar4654
Apr5545
May7624
Jun964
Jul991
Aug991
Sep982
Oct8614
Nov6238
Dec5347

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around June 11, brings about 14 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 9 h 30 min — a swing of roughly 5 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan9.87:165:01
Feb10.66:565:32
Mar11.76:186:00
Apr12.95:316:28
May13.94:576:54
Jun14.54:457:14
Jul14.34:567:13
Aug13.45:216:46
Sep12.25:476:00
Oct11.16:135:16
Nov10.06:444:45
Dec9.57:104:40

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Khulm averages about 19 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 9 and 30 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.5 months, from around May 17 to Oct 30. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 29 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is February, down near 9 sunny days — about 68% fewer than the September peak.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantSep 230 daysFeb 219 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb9Mixed
Mar10Mixed
Apr12Mixed
May19Bright
Jun26Brilliant
Jul30Brilliant
Aug30Brilliant
Sep29Brilliant
Oct24Brilliant
Nov15Mixed
Dec12Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Khulm, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in May, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 4% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccomfortabledry
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan10000
Feb10000
Mar9910
Apr80182
May74224
Jun9271
Jul9730
Aug9811
Sep10000
Oct10000
Nov10000
Dec10000

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Wind in Khulm is steady company: average speeds sit near 7 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeJul 15 · 9 km/hNov 12 · 6 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb7calm
Mar7calm
Apr7calm
May7calm
Jun8calm
Jul9calm
Aug8calm
Sep7calm
Oct6calm
Nov6calm
Dec6calm

Hazard calendar for Khulm

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Khulm sees seasonal dust haze (May), heaviest in May.

Dust
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Khulm

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Khulm throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around late October, Khulm is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Khulm for general outdoor tourist activities is from late September to early November, with a peak score in the second week of October.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 12 · 9.0

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan1.8poor
Feb2.8poor
Mar5.2fair
Apr6.9good
May5.8good
Jun3.0poor
Jul1.8poor
Aug3.0poor
Sep6.3good
Oct8.6ideal
Nov5.2fair
Dec2.6poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Khulm for hot-weather activities run from early May to early June and again from late August to mid October, with a peak score in the last week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 23 · 9.2

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Khulm, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around July (highs near 38°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 9°C), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Khulm sees daytime highs around 38°C and nights near 24°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Khulm by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Khulm peaks around June 18 at about 10 (very high) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near January 1 at about 2 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 9 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateHighVery highModerateJun 18UV 10Jan 1UV 2
UV index (midday)Level
Jan2Moderate
Feb4Moderate
Mar5High
Apr7High
May10Very high
Jun10Very high
Jul10Very high
Aug10Very high
Sep8Very high
Oct5Moderate
Nov3Moderate
Dec2Moderate

Average hourly UV index in Khulm

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in June the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan00
Feb40
Mar50
Apr73
May85.5
Jun8.56
Jul8.55.5
Aug85.5
Sep6.53.5
Oct4.50
Nov00
Dec00

Air quality in Khulm by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Khulm is worst in April — around 35 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 1.8× the cleanest month (January, 20 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateApr 2134 µg/m³Jan 1420 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan20Moderate
Feb23Moderate
Mar30Moderate
Apr35Moderate
May34Moderate
Jun26Moderate
Jul26Moderate
Aug24Moderate
Sep28Moderate
Oct26Moderate
Nov24Moderate
Dec22Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayReliably frost-free (≥90%)

Khulm is mild enough that a frost-free day stays more likely than not even in midwinter. Nights are reliably above freezing from about March 1 to November 27 (272 days); outside that window a hard frost is an occasional risk.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecreliably frost-freeMar 190%Nov 2790%
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan6231
Feb7328
Mar971
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov964
Dec7731

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Khulm banks about 3,216 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan0
Feb0
Mar73
Apr254
May428
Jun559
Jul638
Aug581
Sep420
Oct226
Nov36
Dec0

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Khulm receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.5 and 8.0 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around Mar 30 to Sep 30. The brightest month is July, averaging about 7.8 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 2.5 kWh/m² — roughly 68% less than the July peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJul 28.0 kWhDec 232.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan2.7Moderate
Feb3.5Moderate
Mar4.7Bright
Apr6.0Intense
May7.1Intense
Jun7.8Intense
Jul7.9Intense
Aug7.2Intense
Sep6.0Intense
Oct4.4Bright
Nov3.0Moderate
Dec2.5Moderate

Where is Khulm?

Khulm sits at 36.7°N, 67.7°E, 445 m above sea level, in Afghanistan. The nearest listed city is Mazār-e Sharīf, 52 km away.

ZarhalolKunduzBaghlānQarāwul

Topography around Khulm

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Khulm.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Khulm has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 224 m around an average of 467 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,994 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,552 m.

The land around Khulm is covered by bare terrain (46%) and trees (21%) within 3 km, bare terrain (68%) and grassland (21%) within 16 km, and bare terrain (57%) and grassland (26%) within 80 km.

3 km
224 m
16 km
1,994 m
80 km
2,552 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Mazār-e Sharīf 52 km · Aībak 56 km · Termez 69 km · Balkh 72 km · Zarhalol 95 km · Kunduz 103 km · Baghlān 110 km · Qarāwul 112 km

Afghanistan travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 4
Do Not Travel
Power plugs
Type C / F
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 17% of US
price level, 2024
GDP per capita
$417
2024
Happiness
1.4 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
31%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
4
per 100k, 2021
Road deaths
15.9
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 446
Religion
Muslim 100%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Khulm (36.6974°, 67.6983°, elevation 445 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).