Zaranj weather in January

In January, Zaranj sees average daytime highs of 16°C and overnight lows near 3°C, with 16 mm of precipitation across 3.5 wet days and about 10.2 hours of daylight. It is the 12th-warmest and 1st-wettest month of the year here.

Day-to-day highs hold fairly steady near 16°C through the month. The sky is clear or mostly clear about 69% of the time in January, and the air most often feels dry.

Daylight stretches from about 10 hours at the start of January to 10 h 30 min by month's end. Set against the rest of the year, January is Zaranj's 9th-clearest and 11th-windiest month. For the whole year in context, see Zaranj's year-round climate.

Daytime high: 16°; 12th warmest
Overnight low: 3°; 1st coldest
Precipitation: 16 mm; 3.5 wet days
Daylight: 10 h 12 min; 7:26 AM – 5:38 PM
Cloud cover: 29%; 9th clearest
Wind: 10 km/h; 11th windiest
Solar energy: 3.81 kWh/m²
Travel score: 6.2; out of 10

Zaranj is city in Afghanistan.

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

← December Zaranj year-round climate February →Best places to visit in January

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

Temperature in January

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Day-to-day highs hold fairly steady near 16°C through the month.

A typical January day in Zaranj reaches about 16°C in the afternoon and slips back to 3°C overnight — a 13°C spread between the day's warmth and the night's chill. On most days the high lands between 10°C and 21°C. Set against its neighbours, January runs about 2°C cooler than December and about 4°C cooler than February.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Avg high (°C)	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	17	17	17	17	17	17
Avg low (°C)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

	Avg high (°C)	Avg low (°C)
1	16	3
2	16	3
3	16	3
4	16	3
5	16	3
6	16	3
7	16	3
8	16	3
9	15	3
10	15	3
11	15	3
12	15	3
13	15	3
14	15	3
15	15	3
16	15	3
17	15	3
18	15	3
19	16	3
20	16	3
21	16	3
22	16	3
23	16	3
24	16	4
25	16	4
26	17	4
27	17	4
28	17	4
29	17	4
30	17	4
31	17	4

How January really feels in Zaranj

Once humidity and wind are folded in, January averages 0 days that feel above 32°C and 18 that feel at or below 0°C — the comfort signal a plain temperature reading hides.

Days feeling ≥ 32°C

heat index over the day's high

Days feeling ≤ 0°C

wind chill below the day's low

The story in January is cold — wind chill drags the overnight "feels like" below the raw low.

Zaranj weather by month

How January compares with the rest of the year at a glance. January is the 12th-warmest and 1st-wettest month here — the current month is highlighted below.

Month	High / Low (°C)	Rainfall (mm)	Wet days	Daylight (hours)	Travel score
Jan	16° / 3°	16	3.5	10.2	6.2
Feb	20° / 6°	11	2.6	10.9	7.8
Mar	26° / 12°	16	3	11.8	8.0
Apr	33° / 18°	4	1	12.7	4.5
May	39° / 24°	1	0.2	13.5	1.1
Jun	42° / 28°	0	0	14	0.0
Jul	44° / 30°	0	0	13.8	0.0
Aug	42° / 28°	0	0	13.1	0.0
Sep	38° / 22°	0	0	12.2	1.8
Oct	31° / 15°	0	0.1	11.2	6.2
Nov	23° / 9°	3	0.7	10.4	8.9
Dec	17° / 4°	7	1.5	10	7.3

Cloud cover in January

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

The sky is clear or mostly clear about 69% of the time in January.

Beyond those clear spells, partly cloudy skies cover about 10% of January, with mostly cloudy or overcast conditions the remaining 21%.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Clearer (%)	79	79	77	77	77	77	76	76	76	76	76	77	77	77	77	78	79	79	80	80	81	81	82	82	82	82	82	82	83	83	83
Cloudier (%)	21	21	23	23	23	23	24	24	24	24	24	23	23	23	23	22	21	21	20	20	19	19	18	18	18	18	18	18	17	17	17

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	79	21
2	79	21
3	77	23
4	77	23
5	77	23
6	77	23
7	76	24
8	76	24
9	76	24
10	76	24
11	76	24
12	77	23
13	77	23
14	77	23
15	77	23
16	78	22
17	79	21
18	79	21
19	80	20
20	80	20
21	81	19
22	81	19
23	82	18
24	82	18
25	82	18
26	82	18
27	82	18
28	82	18
29	83	17
30	83	17
31	83	17

Chance of precipitation in January

Any precipitation

Zaranj gets around 16 mm of rain and snow over 3.5 wet days in January, the wettest month. The line is the day-by-day chance of measurable precipitation.

Day to day, the chance of measurable precipitation averages around 11% and peaks near 14% on the wettest days, and about 0 day brings snow.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Rain chance (%)	7	7	8	8	8	9	9	10	10	10	11	11	11	12	12	13	13	13	14	14	14	13	13	13	13	12	12	12	11	11	11

	Rain chance (%)
1	7
2	7
3	8
4	8
5	8
6	9
7	9
8	10
9	10
10	10
11	11
12	11
13	11
14	12
15	12
16	13
17	13
18	13
19	14
20	14
21	14
22	13
23	13
24	13
25	13
26	12
27	12
28	12
29	11
30	11
31	11

Humidity in January

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Most of January feels dry — the stacked bands show each day's mix of comfort levels, read off the dew point.

By dew point, January lands in the dry band about 100% of days. It rarely turns muggy — the humid and sticky bands barely register.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Dry (%)	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

Wind in January

Winds average 10 km/h in January.

Across January, daily wind ranges from about 10 km/h on the calmest days to 11 km/h at its breeziest. It stays fairly steady from day to day.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Wind speed (km/h)	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11
Feels	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm	calm

	Wind speed (km/h)	Feels
1	10	calm
2	10	calm
3	10	calm
4	10	calm
5	10	calm
6	10	calm
7	10	calm
8	10	calm
9	11	calm
10	11	calm
11	11	calm
12	11	calm
13	11	calm
14	11	calm
15	11	calm
16	11	calm
17	11	calm
18	11	calm
19	11	calm
20	11	calm
21	11	calm
22	11	calm
23	11	calm
24	11	calm
25	11	calm
26	11	calm
27	11	calm
28	11	calm
29	11	calm
30	11	calm
31	11	calm

Sunrise & sunset in January

DaylightNight

Daylight runs from about 10 hours at the start of January to 10 h 30 min by month's end. The lit band spans sunrise to sunset each day.

Days grow by about 30 minutes over January. Sunrise moves from 7:25 AM to 7:21 AM, and sunset from 5:26 PM to 5:51 PM.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Daylight (h)	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	10.1	10.1	10.1	10.1	10.1	10.1	10.1	10.1	10.2	10.2	10.2	10.2	10.2	10.2	10.2	10.3	10.3	10.3	10.3	10.3	10.4	10.4	10.4	10.4	10.4	10.5	10.5
Sunrise (AM)	7:25	7:25	7:25	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:26	7:25	7:25	7:25	7:25	7:24	7:24	7:24	7:23	7:23	7:23	7:22	7:22	7:21
Sunset (PM)	5:26	5:27	5:28	5:28	5:29	5:30	5:31	5:31	5:32	5:33	5:34	5:34	5:35	5:36	5:37	5:38	5:39	5:39	5:40	5:41	5:42	5:43	5:44	5:45	5:45	5:46	5:47	5:48	5:49	5:50	5:51

	Daylight (h)	Sunrise (AM)	Sunset (PM)
1	10.0	7:25	5:26
2	10.0	7:25	5:27
3	10.0	7:25	5:28
4	10.0	7:26	5:28
5	10.1	7:26	5:29
6	10.1	7:26	5:30
7	10.1	7:26	5:31
8	10.1	7:26	5:31
9	10.1	7:26	5:32
10	10.1	7:26	5:33
11	10.1	7:26	5:34
12	10.1	7:26	5:34
13	10.2	7:26	5:35
14	10.2	7:26	5:36
15	10.2	7:26	5:37
16	10.2	7:26	5:38
17	10.2	7:26	5:39
18	10.2	7:26	5:39
19	10.2	7:25	5:40
20	10.3	7:25	5:41
21	10.3	7:25	5:42
22	10.3	7:25	5:43
23	10.3	7:24	5:44
24	10.3	7:24	5:45
25	10.4	7:24	5:45
26	10.4	7:23	5:46
27	10.4	7:23	5:47
28	10.4	7:23	5:48
29	10.4	7:22	5:49
30	10.5	7:22	5:50
31	10.5	7:21	5:51

Solar energy in January

Daily solar energy (kWh/m²)

Average shortwave solar energy reaching the ground each day in January, about 3.81 kWh/m².

For context, solar energy here swings from a low near 3.57 kWh/m² to a high of 8.08 kWh/m² in June across the year — January's 3.81 kWh/m² sits near the bottom.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Solar energy (kWh/m²)	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.7	3.7	3.7	3.7	3.8	3.8	3.8	3.8	3.9	3.9	3.9	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.1	4.1	4.1	4.2	4.2	4.3	4.3
Level	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Bright	Bright	Bright	Bright	Bright	Bright	Bright	Bright

	Solar energy (kWh/m²)	Level
1	3.6	Moderate
2	3.6	Moderate
3	3.6	Moderate
4	3.6	Moderate
5	3.6	Moderate
6	3.6	Moderate
7	3.6	Moderate
8	3.6	Moderate
9	3.6	Moderate
10	3.6	Moderate
11	3.7	Moderate
12	3.7	Moderate
13	3.7	Moderate
14	3.7	Moderate
15	3.8	Moderate
16	3.8	Moderate
17	3.8	Moderate
18	3.8	Moderate
19	3.9	Moderate
20	3.9	Moderate
21	3.9	Moderate
22	4.0	Moderate
23	4.0	Moderate
24	4.0	Bright
25	4.1	Bright
26	4.1	Bright
27	4.1	Bright
28	4.2	Bright
29	4.2	Bright
30	4.3	Bright
31	4.3	Bright

Planning a trip in January

Hazard calendar for Zaranj

In seasonPeak

None of Zaranj's seasonal hazards are active in January. The full-year calendar below shows when the rainy season, cyclone risk and dust haze do peak.

Zaranj sees seasonal dust haze (April–September), heaviest in July.

Dust

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Is January a good time to visit Zaranj?

Our two travel scores rate January for general sightseeing and for beach or pool weather — 0 (poor) to 10 (ideal).

6.2

Sightseeing

5th-best month of the year

0.8

Beach & pool

11th-best month of the year

January is a reasonable time to visit Zaranj for sightseeing.

What to pack for Zaranj in January

From January's temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind — what's worth putting in the bag.

In January, Zaranj sees daytime highs around 16°C and nights near 3°C. Worth packing: a warm layer. About 4 days see rain.

a warm layer

UV index in Zaranj in January

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV in January peaks around 4 — enough to warrant sun protection. The full-year curve, shaded by WHO exposure level, is below.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Zaranj peaks around June 17 at about 10 (very high) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 18 at about 3 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 11 months of the year.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
UV index (midday)	4	6	8	8	9	10	9	10	8	7	4	3
Level	Moderate	High	Very high	Very high	Very high	Extreme	Very high	Extreme	Very high	High	Moderate	Moderate

	UV index (midday)	Level
Jan	4	Moderate
Feb	6	High
Mar	8	Very high
Apr	8	Very high
May	9	Very high
Jun	10	Extreme
Jul	9	Very high
Aug	10	Extreme
Sep	8	Very high
Oct	7	High
Nov	4	Moderate
Dec	3	Moderate

Air quality in Zaranj in January

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see where January falls, not just the annual average.

Air quality in Zaranj is worst in August — around 126 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 3.8× the cleanest month (December, 33 µg/m³).

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

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
PM2.5 (µg/m³)	34	38	40	52	61	83	120	126	93	58	35	33
Level	Moderate	Poor	Poor	Poor	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Unhealthy	Poor	Moderate

	PM2.5 (µg/m³)	Level
Jan	34	Moderate
Feb	38	Poor
Mar	40	Poor
Apr	52	Poor
May	61	Unhealthy
Jun	83	Unhealthy
Jul	120	Unhealthy
Aug	126	Unhealthy
Sep	93	Unhealthy
Oct	58	Unhealthy
Nov	35	Poor
Dec	33	Moderate

Location & terrain

Where is Zaranj?

Zaranj sits at 31.0°N, 61.9°E, 489 m above sea level, in Afghanistan. The nearest listed city is Zābol, 36 km away.

Topography around Zaranj

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Zaranj has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 10 m around an average of 487 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 25 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 313 m.

The land around Zaranj is covered by artificial surfaces (42%), bare terrain (33%) and cropland (24%) within 3 km, bare terrain (65%) and cropland (33%) within 16 km, and bare terrain (89%) within 80 km.

3 km

10 m

artificial surfaces 42%

16 km

25 m

bare terrain 65%

80 km

313 m

bare terrain 89%

shrubscroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwetland

← December Zaranj year-round climate February →Best places to visit in January

January weather nearby: Zābol 36 km · Khāsh 109 km · Farah 159 km · Nehbandān 185 km · Zahedan 189 km · Khān Neshīn 190 km · Lashkar Gāh 249 km · Kushk 260 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

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 Zaranj (30.9596°, 61.8604°, elevation 489 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).

	Avg high (°C)	Avg low (°C)
1	16	3
2	16	3
3	16	3
4	16	3
5	16	3
6	16	3
7	16	3
8	16	3
9	15	3
10	15	3
11	15	3
12	15	3
13	15	3
14	15	3
15	15	3
16	15	3
17	15	3
18	15	3
19	16	3
20	16	3
21	16	3
22	16	3
23	16	3
24	16	4
25	16	4
26	17	4
27	17	4
28	17	4
29	17	4
30	17	4
31	17	4

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	79	21
2	79	21
3	77	23
4	77	23
5	77	23
6	77	23
7	76	24
8	76	24
9	76	24
10	76	24
11	76	24
12	77	23
13	77	23
14	77	23
15	77	23
16	78	22
17	79	21
18	79	21
19	80	20
20	80	20
21	81	19
22	81	19
23	82	18
24	82	18
25	82	18
26	82	18
27	82	18
28	82	18
29	83	17
30	83	17
31	83	17

	Rain chance (%)
1	7
2	7
3	8
4	8
5	8
6	9
7	9
8	10
9	10
10	10
11	11
12	11
13	11
14	12
15	12
16	13
17	13
18	13
19	14
20	14
21	14
22	13
23	13
24	13
25	13
26	12
27	12
28	12
29	11
30	11
31	11

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

	Avg high (°C)	Avg low (°C)
1	16	3
2	16	3
3	16	3
4	16	3
5	16	3
6	16	3
7	16	3
8	16	3
9	15	3
10	15	3
11	15	3
12	15	3
13	15	3
14	15	3
15	15	3
16	15	3
17	15	3
18	15	3
19	16	3
20	16	3
21	16	3
22	16	3
23	16	3
24	16	4
25	16	4
26	17	4
27	17	4
28	17	4
29	17	4
30	17	4
31	17	4

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	79	21
2	79	21
3	77	23
4	77	23
5	77	23
6	77	23
7	76	24
8	76	24
9	76	24
10	76	24
11	76	24
12	77	23
13	77	23
14	77	23
15	77	23
16	78	22
17	79	21
18	79	21
19	80	20
20	80	20
21	81	19
22	81	19
23	82	18
24	82	18
25	82	18
26	82	18
27	82	18
28	82	18
29	83	17
30	83	17
31	83	17

	Rain chance (%)
1	7
2	7
3	8
4	8
5	8
6	9
7	9
8	10
9	10
10	10
11	11
12	11
13	11
14	12
15	12
16	13
17	13
18	13
19	14
20	14
21	14
22	13
23	13
24	13
25	13
26	12
27	12
28	12
29	11
30	11
31	11

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

	Avg high (°C)	Avg low (°C)
1	16	3
2	16	3
3	16	3
4	16	3
5	16	3
6	16	3
7	16	3
8	16	3
9	15	3
10	15	3
11	15	3
12	15	3
13	15	3
14	15	3
15	15	3
16	15	3
17	15	3
18	15	3
19	16	3
20	16	3
21	16	3
22	16	3
23	16	3
24	16	4
25	16	4
26	17	4
27	17	4
28	17	4
29	17	4
30	17	4
31	17	4

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	79	21
2	79	21
3	77	23
4	77	23
5	77	23
6	77	23
7	76	24
8	76	24
9	76	24
10	76	24
11	76	24
12	77	23
13	77	23
14	77	23
15	77	23
16	78	22
17	79	21
18	79	21
19	80	20
20	80	20
21	81	19
22	81	19
23	82	18
24	82	18
25	82	18
26	82	18
27	82	18
28	82	18
29	83	17
30	83	17
31	83	17

	Rain chance (%)
1	7
2	7
3	8
4	8
5	8
6	9
7	9
8	10
9	10
10	10
11	11
12	11
13	11
14	12
15	12
16	13
17	13
18	13
19	14
20	14
21	14
22	13
23	13
24	13
25	13
26	12
27	12
28	12
29	11
30	11
31	11

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100