Climate and average weather in Bassila

In Bassila, the summers are humid, sweltering, fairly dry, and partly cloudy and the winters are hot and mostly cloudy.

Best: mid October to late December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Bassila typically varies from 21°C to 36°C, and is rarely below 18°C or above 38°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while August is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Bassila for warm-weather activities are from early January to late January and mid October to late December.

Hottest
Mar
36°
Coldest
Aug
22°
Wettest
Aug
324 mm
Driest
Dec
2 mm
Rain / yr
1499 mm
172 wet days
Daylight
11.5–12.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
388 m
9.0°N
Clearest
Dec
30% cloud

Bassila is commune in Donga Department, Benin.

Density
8/km²
people per km²

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

Bassila 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 mid October to late December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Bassila stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 36°C and low of 24°C; the coolest is August, with an average low of 22°C and high of 29°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 14°C) in December.

15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3421
Feb3623
Mar3624
Apr3424
May3223
Jun3022
Jul2922
Aug2922
Sep3022
Oct3222
Nov3421
Dec3421

How hot and cold Bassila 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, Bassila feels like about 39°C (around April 2). About 333 days a year carry some heat stress, and 3 of them tip into dangerous heat (feels-like above 39°C), peaking in April.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan34342121
Feb36362323
Mar38362424
Apr38342424
May37322323
Jun34302222
Jul32292222
Aug32292222
Sep34302222
Oct36322222
Nov35342121
Dec34342021

Average hourly temperature in Bassila

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 March afternoons, near 36°C, and coldest before dawn in August, near 22°C.

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

Bassila weather by month

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

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan34° / 21°30.511.53.9
Feb36° / 23°111.811.72.7
Mar36° / 24°376.611.92.2
Apr34° / 24°11216.312.22.5
May32° / 23°17022.112.42.7
Jun30° / 22°19123.312.53.1
Jul29° / 22°25728.112.53.1
Aug29° / 22°32428.112.33.2
Sep30° / 22°26025.712.13.0
Oct32° / 22°12317.511.83.3
Nov34° / 21°101.911.63.5
Dec34° / 21°20.411.53.9

Chance of rain

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

Bassila gets about 1499 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.3 months, from around Apr 11 to Oct 20, peaking in July at about 94% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 1.

August is the wettest month by volume, with 324 mm over about 28 wet days; December is the driest, with 2 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJul 25 · 94%Jan 1 · 1%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan21
Feb72
Mar237
Apr5316
May7122
Jun7823
Jul9128
Aug9128
Sep8626
Oct5518
Nov92
Dec10

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Bassila collects about 1499 mm of rain across 172 wet days — roughly 125 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. August is the wettest month with 324 mm, while December is the driest at just 2 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 56% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec31137112170191257324260123102
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan31
Feb112
Mar377
Apr11216
May17022
Jun19123
Jul25728
Aug32428
Sep26026
Oct12318
Nov102
Dec20

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Bassila, 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 October 16 and lasts for 5.3 months, ending around March 25. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 81% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 26 and lasts for 6.7 months, ending around October 15. The cloudiest month is August, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 95% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecDec 24 · 83%Aug 12 · 4%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7426
Feb6733
Mar4555
Apr3367
May2476
Jun1783
Jul892
Aug595
Sep1486
Oct4060
Nov6931
Dec8119

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 May 24, brings about 12 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 30 min — a swing of roughly 1 hour.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.57:176:48
Feb11.77:176:59
Mar11.97:057:01
Apr12.26:487:00
May12.46:377:02
Jun12.56:387:09
Jul12.56:457:13
Aug12.36:487:06
Sep12.16:466:49
Oct11.86:446:32
Nov11.66:516:26
Dec11.57:056:34

Sunny days

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

Bassila averages about 8 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 22 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.7 months, from around Oct 23 to Mar 13. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 21 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is July, down near 0 sunny days — about 100% fewer than the December peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantDec 2422 daysJul 150 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan19Bright
Feb14Bright
Mar8Gloomy
Apr4Gloomy
May2Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug0Gloomy
Sep0Gloomy
Oct5Gloomy
Nov15Bright
Dec21Bright

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 Bassila, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 8.4 months, from around March 9 to November 18. The muggiest month is April, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 99% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around November 19 to March 8, and January is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 80% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 1 · 88%Apr 20 · 0%muggyoppressivehumiddrycomfortablecomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan701012700
Feb459172350
Mar1041140350
Apr00115813
May0001945
Jun0001971
Jul0004960
Aug0007930
Sep0002980
Oct00116820
Nov1082141200
Dec5611181410

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

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeJan 3 · 8 km/hSep 20 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan8calm
Feb7calm
Mar7calm
Apr7calm
May7calm
Jun6calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep5calm
Oct6calm
Nov6calm
Dec7calm

Hazard calendar for Bassila

In seasonPeak

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

Bassila's monsoon runs May–September, when most of the year's rain falls.

Bassila sees seasonal dust haze (January–May), heaviest in February.

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

Best time to visit Bassila

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late October, Bassila is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

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 Bassila for general outdoor tourist activities is from late October to late January, with a peak score in the first week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 3 · 4.2

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
Jan3.8fair
Feb2.7poor
Mar2.2poor
Apr2.5poor
May2.7poor
Jun3.1poor
Jul3.1poor
Aug3.2poor
Sep3.0poor
Oct3.3poor
Nov3.5fair
Dec3.9fair

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Bassila for hot-weather activities is from late October to mid February, with a peak score in the first week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 1 · 7.9

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 Bassila, 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 March (highs near 36°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around August (highs near 29°C), pack light clothes and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In March, Bassila sees daytime highs around 36°C and nights near 24°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 7 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Bassila 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 Bassila peaks around April 14 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 17 at about 8 (very high).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highExtremeVery highApr 14UV 13Dec 17UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan9Very high
Feb10Very high
Mar12Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May11Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct11Extreme
Nov9Very high
Dec8Very high

Average hourly UV index in Bassila

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 April the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 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)
Jan74.5
Feb75
Mar86
Apr86
May86
Jun85.5
Jul86
Aug86
Sep86
Oct7.55.5
Nov74.5
Dec6.53.5

Air quality in Bassila 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 Bassila is worst in February — around 84 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 5.4× the cleanest month (August, 16 µg/m³).

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

0306090JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyPoorModeratePoorUnhealthyFeb 1083 µg/m³Aug 1116 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan77Unhealthy
Feb84Unhealthy
Mar48Poor
Apr40Poor
May23Moderate
Jun19Moderate
Jul16Moderate
Aug16Moderate
Sep18Moderate
Oct30Moderate
Nov40Poor
Dec67Unhealthy
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Bassila is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

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. Bassila banks about 6,331 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around March.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan540
Feb537
Mar619
Apr570
May548
Jun492
Jul481
Aug472
Sep477
Oct526
Nov534
Dec536

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.

Bassila receives about 5.4 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.0 and 6.2 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 7.1 months, from around Oct 19 to May 22. The brightest month is February, averaging about 6.2 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is August, down near 4.1 kWh/m² — roughly 34% less than the February peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 216.2 kWhAug 154.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.0Bright
Feb6.2Intense
Mar6.2Intense
Apr6.0Bright
May5.5Bright
Jun4.7Bright
Jul4.3Bright
Aug4.1Bright
Sep4.6Bright
Oct5.3Bright
Nov5.8Bright
Dec5.8Bright

Where is Bassila?

Bassila sits at 9.0°N, 1.7°E, 388 m above sea level, in Benin. The nearest listed city is Tchamba, 27 km away.

BafiloSokodéBantéDjougouOuakéKaraSotouboua

Topography around Bassila

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Bassila has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 64 m around an average of 389 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 293 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 655 m.

The land around Bassila is covered by trees (40%) and shrubs (37%) within 3 km, trees (42%) and shrubs (41%) within 16 km, and trees (42%) and shrubs (40%) within 80 km.

3 km
64 m
16 km
293 m
80 km
655 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaces
Nearby: Tchamba 27 km · Bafilo 58 km · Sokodé 59 km · Banté 71 km · Djougou 78 km · Ouaké 79 km · Kara 80 km · Sotouboua 90 km

Benin travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / E
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 34% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$1,658
2025
Happiness
4.4 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
18%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
1.1
per 100k, 2017
Road deaths
26.8
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 406
Religion
Muslim 28%Roman Catholic 26%Protestant 14%Vodoun 12%

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 Bassila (9.0081°, 1.6654°, elevation 388 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).