Climate and average weather in Adwa

In Adwa, the summers are hot, fairly dry, and mostly clear and the winters are warm and mostly cloudy.

Best: mid September to late December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Adwa typically varies from 9°C to 30°C, and is rarely below 6°C or above 32°C. April is the hottest month of the year, while August is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Apr
30°
Coldest
Aug
14°
Wettest
Aug
270 mm
Driest
Dec
2 mm
Rain / yr
729 mm
100 wet days
Daylight
11.2–12.8 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,895 m
14.2°N
Clearest
Dec
24% cloud

Adwa is human settlement in Ethiopia.

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

Adwa 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 September to late December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Adwa stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is April, with an average high of 30°C and low of 14°C; the coolest is August, with an average low of 14°C and high of 23°C.

Days typically run about 14°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 17°C) in February.

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2710
Feb2911
Mar3013
Apr3014
May3015
Jun2815
Jul2414
Aug2314
Sep2512
Oct2611
Nov2610
Dec269

Average hourly temperature in Adwa

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 April afternoons, near 30°C, and coldest before dawn in August, near 14°C.

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

Adwa 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
Jan27° / 10°50.711.38.6
Feb29° / 11°30.611.57.5
Mar30° / 13°173.211.96.3
Apr30° / 14°225.612.35.8
May30° / 15°326.312.65.8
Jun28° / 15°5811.312.85.9
Jul24° / 14°22928.412.84.1
Aug23° / 14°27029.712.53.8
Sep25° / 12°7510.812.16.8
Oct26° / 11°101.611.78.3
Nov26° / 10°71.411.38.7
Dec26° / 20.511.28.9

Chance of rain

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

Adwa gets about 729 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 3.2 months, from around Jun 12 to Sep 17, peaking in August at about 97% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 3.

August is the wettest month by volume, with 270 mm over about 30 wet days; December is the driest, with 2 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetAug 7 · 97%Feb 3 · 1%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan21
Feb21
Mar103
Apr196
May216
Jun3911
Jul9028
Aug9430
Sep3811
Oct52
Nov41
Dec21

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Adwa collects about 729 mm of rain across 100 wet days — roughly 61 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. August is the wettest month with 270 mm, while December is the driest at just 2 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 79% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec5317223258229270751072
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan51
Feb31
Mar173
Apr226
May326
Jun5811
Jul22928
Aug27030
Sep7511
Oct102
Nov71
Dec21

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Adwa, 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 September 11 and lasts for 7.8 months, ending around May 4. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 90% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around June 4 and lasts for 3.3 months, ending around September 10. The cloudiest month is August, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 71% 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 21 · 91%Aug 3 · 18%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan8515
Feb8614
Mar8020
Apr7921
May7129
Jun6436
Jul3169
Aug2971
Sep7426
Oct8317
Nov8911
Dec9010

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 29, brings about 12 h 48 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 12 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.36:566:11
Feb11.56:536:25
Mar11.96:376:31
Apr12.36:156:34
May12.66:016:40
Jun12.86:006:50
Jul12.86:076:53
Aug12.56:146:43
Sep12.16:166:21
Oct11.76:196:00
Nov11.36:305:50
Dec11.26:465:56

Sunny days

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

Adwa averages about 14 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 23 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.2 months, from around Oct 14 to Apr 21. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 23 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is August, down near 2 sunny days — about 91% fewer than the December peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantDec 1223 daysAug 21 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan22Bright
Feb19Bright
Mar17Bright
Apr14Mixed
May11Mixed
Jun8Mixed
Jul2Gloomy
Aug2Gloomy
Sep12Mixed
Oct16Bright
Nov21Bright
Dec23Bright

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 2.3 months, from around July 6 to September 14. The muggiest month is August, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 29% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around September 15 to July 5, and March is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMar 6 · 100%Aug 16 · 67%humiddrycomfortablecomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan10000
Feb10000
Mar9910
Apr9730
May9190
Jun68311
Jul9829
Aug17029
Sep57376
Oct9820
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.

Across the year, average wind speed in Adwa is typically calm, near 7 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.4 months, from around Jan 8 to Jun 21. The windiest month is April, averaging about 8 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jun 22 to Oct 6, with August the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmercalmlight breezeApr 12 · 8 km/hAug 31 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan7calm
Feb7calm
Mar8calm
Apr8calm
May7calm
Jun7calm
Jul6calm
Aug5calm
Sep5calm
Oct7calm
Nov7calm
Dec7calm

Hazard calendar for Adwa

In seasonPeak

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

Adwa's monsoon runs July–August, when most of the year's rain falls.

Adwa sees seasonal dust haze (June–August), heaviest in June.

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

Best time to visit Adwa

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late September, Adwa 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 Adwa for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid September to late February, with a peak score in the second week of December.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 9 · 8.9

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
Jan8.5ideal
Feb7.5good
Mar6.3good
Apr5.8good
May5.8good
Jun5.8good
Jul4.1fair
Aug3.9fair
Sep6.8good
Oct8.3ideal
Nov8.7ideal
Dec8.9ideal

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 Adwa for hot-weather activities is from late September to mid June, with a peak score in the third week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 17 · 9.0

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 Adwa, 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 April (highs near 30°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around August (highs near 23°C), pack light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In April, Adwa sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 14°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 6 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Adwa 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 Adwa peaks around March 23 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 12 at about 9 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highMar 23UV 15Dec 12UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan11Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct12Extreme
Nov10Very high
Dec9Very high

Average hourly UV index in Adwa

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 March the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 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)
Jan7.55.5
Feb7.56
Mar86.5
Apr8.56.5
May8.56.5
Jun86
Jul86
Aug86
Sep86
Oct7.55.5
Nov75
Dec6.54.5

Air quality in Adwa 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 Adwa is worst in June — around 28 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateJun 1628 µg/m³Nov 1721 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan25Moderate
Feb24Moderate
Mar26Moderate
Apr22Moderate
May24Moderate
Jun28Moderate
Jul24Moderate
Aug23Moderate
Sep27Moderate
Oct23Moderate
Nov21Moderate
Dec23Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Adwa 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. Adwa banks about 3,509 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around May.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan254
Feb276
Mar348
Apr362
May380
Jun339
Jul279
Aug271
Sep262
Oct264
Nov239
Dec234

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.

Adwa receives about 6.0 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — intense — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.7 and 7.0 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.6 months, from around Jan 22 to Jun 11. The brightest month is April, averaging about 7.0 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.9 kWh/m² — roughly 30% less than the April peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 107.0 kWhJul 304.7 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.9Bright
Feb6.4Intense
Mar6.9Intense
Apr7.0Intense
May6.7Intense
Jun5.9Bright
Jul4.9Bright
Aug5.0Bright
Sep5.9Bright
Oct6.2Intense
Nov5.9Bright
Dec5.7Bright

Where is Adwa?

Adwa sits at 14.2°N, 38.9°E, 1,895 m above sea level, in Ethiopia. The nearest listed city is Aksum, 20 km away.

Topography around Adwa

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Adwa has large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 620 m around an average of 1,961 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,348 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,441 m.

The land around Adwa is covered by cropland (42%) and shrubs (29%) within 3 km, cropland (48%), grassland (26%) and shrubs (24%) within 16 km, and grassland (47%) and cropland (33%) within 80 km.

3 km
620 m
16 km
1,348 m
80 km
2,441 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrain
Nearby: Aksum 20 km · Intich’o 30 km · Ādīgrat 62 km · Inda Silasē 67 km · Ābīy Ādī 68 km · Idaga Hamus 72 km · Indabaguna 81 km · Mendefera 81 km

Ethiopia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 3
Reconsider Travel
Power plugs
Type C / E / F / L
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 37% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$933
2025
Happiness
4.0 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
14%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
8.5
per 100k, 2012
Road deaths
28.2
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Low
EF EPI 499
Religion
Ethiopian Orthodox 44%Muslim 31%Protestant 23%other 1%

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 Adwa (14.1635°, 38.8992°, elevation 1,895 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).