Climate and average weather in Arba Minch

In Arba Minch, the weather is warm, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around October.

Best: early January to mid March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Arba Minch typically varies from 15°C to 26°C, and is rarely below 13°C or above 29°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Feb
26°
Coldest
Jul
15°
Wettest
Oct
479 mm
Driest
Feb
73 mm
Rain / yr
2743 mm
231 wet days
Daylight
11.6–12.4 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,269 m
6.0°N
Clearest
Dec
52% cloud

Arba Minch is city in Ethiopia.

Density
6,091/km²
people per km²

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

Arba Minch 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 early January to mid March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Arba Minch stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 26°C and low of 16°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 15°C and high of 21°C.

Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 10°C) in February.

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2516
Feb2616
Mar2617
Apr2516
May2416
Jun2216
Jul2115
Aug2216
Sep2316
Oct2415
Nov2415
Dec2515

Average hourly temperature in Arba Minch

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 February afternoons, near 26°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 15°C.

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

Arba Minch 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
Jan25° / 16°80711.77.4
Feb26° / 16°736.711.87.0
Mar26° / 17°20114.9125.9
Apr25° / 16°45125.712.14.2
May24° / 16°44828.912.33.9
Jun22° / 16°16623.512.34.4
Jul21° / 15°12623.412.34.4
Aug22° / 16°12921.612.24.7
Sep23° / 16°19822.8124.7
Oct24° / 15°47928.511.94.0
Nov24° / 15°27718.311.75.5
Dec25° / 15°1169.711.77.1

Chance of rain

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

Arba Minch gets about 2743 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 7.6 months, from around Mar 28 to Nov 13, peaking in May at about 97% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 7.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 479 mm over about 29 wet days; February is the driest, with 73 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMay 6 · 97%Jan 7 · 21%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan227
Feb267
Mar4815
Apr8526
May9229
Jun7924
Jul7523
Aug7122
Sep7623
Oct9029
Nov6218
Dec3110

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Arba Minch collects about 2743 mm of rain across 231 wet days — roughly 229 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 479 mm, while February is the driest at just 73 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 50% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500550JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec8073201451448166126129198479277116
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan807
Feb737
Mar20115
Apr45126
May44829
Jun16624
Jul12623
Aug12922
Sep19823
Oct47929
Nov27718
Dec11610

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Arba Minch, 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 November 10 and lasts for 4.6 months, ending around March 29. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 61% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 30 and lasts for 5.4 months, ending around September 10. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 92% 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 22 · 65%May 3 · 5%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6139
Feb5743
Mar4258
Apr1486
May1189
Jun1783
Jul892
Aug1288
Sep2674
Oct1387
Nov3664
Dec6139

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 21, brings about 12 h 24 min of light; the shortest, around December 21, only 11 h 36 min — a swing of roughly 0 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.76:496:30
Feb11.86:506:38
Mar12.06:416:38
Apr12.16:266:34
May12.36:186:34
Jun12.36:206:40
Jul12.36:266:45
Aug12.26:286:40
Sep12.06:236:25
Oct11.96:196:11
Nov11.76:236:07
Dec11.76:366:16

Sunny days

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

Arba Minch averages about 4 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 12 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.7 months, from around Nov 8 to Mar 30. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 10 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is July, down near 0 sunny days — about 97% fewer than the December peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedDec 2012 daysJul 270 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb8Mixed
Mar6Gloomy
Apr2Gloomy
May1Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep2Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov5Gloomy
Dec11Mixed

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 Arba Minch, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 2.7 months, from around March 21 to June 9. The muggiest month is May, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 61% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around June 10 to October 1, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 99% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 8 · 100%May 4 · 21%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan73243
Feb67284
Mar424215
Apr83755
May13861
Jun107812
Jul25741
Aug29692
Sep22718
Oct56727
Nov315019
Dec63326

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 Arba Minch is steady company: average speeds sit near 4 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmJul 11 · 5 km/hJan 12 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr4calm
May4calm
Jun4calm
Jul5calm
Aug5calm
Sep4calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Best time to visit Arba Minch

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early March, Arba Minch 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 Arba Minch for general outdoor tourist activities is from late November to mid March, with a peak score in the first week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 4 · 7.5

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
Jan7.4good
Feb7.0good
Mar5.8good
Apr4.2fair
May3.9fair
Jun4.4fair
Jul4.4fair
Aug4.7fair
Sep4.7fair
Oct4.1fair
Nov5.5fair
Dec7.1good

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 Arba Minch for hot-weather activities is from early December to late March, with a peak score in the first week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 4 · 6.9

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 Arba Minch, 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.

Arba Minch packs about the same all year — highs hold near 26°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, sun protection and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In February, Arba Minch sees daytime highs around 26°C and nights near 16°C. Pack sun protection. Worth having: light clothes. About 7 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Arba Minch 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 Arba Minch peaks around March 16 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near November 21 at about 11 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 16UV 15Nov 21UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug14Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Arba Minch

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)
Jan86
Feb86.5
Mar86.5
Apr8.56.5
May86
Jun86
Jul86
Aug86.5
Sep86
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Arba Minch 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 Arba Minch is worst in December — around 37 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecPoorModeratePoorDec 2237 µg/m³Apr 2324 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan36Poor
Feb35Moderate
Mar29Moderate
Apr24Moderate
May24Moderate
Jun32Moderate
Jul30Moderate
Aug25Moderate
Sep25Moderate
Oct25Moderate
Nov32Moderate
Dec37Poor
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Arba Minch 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. Arba Minch banks about 3,560 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around March.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan327
Feb317
Mar354
Apr313
May299
Jun266
Jul254
Aug267
Sep281
Oct292
Nov287
Dec304

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.

Arba Minch receives about 5.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.9 and 6.1 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around Oct 28 to Apr 21. The brightest month is February, averaging about 6.0 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.0 kWh/m² — roughly 34% less than the February peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 276.1 kWhJul 233.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.7Bright
Feb6.0Intense
Mar6.0Bright
Apr5.3Bright
May4.8Bright
Jun4.3Bright
Jul3.9Moderate
Aug4.4Bright
Sep5.2Bright
Oct5.0Bright
Nov5.3Bright
Dec5.4Bright

Where is Arba Minch?

Arba Minch sits at 6.0°N, 37.5°E, 1,269 m above sea level, in Ethiopia. The nearest listed city is Ch’ench’a, 24 km away.

Topography around Arba Minch

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Arba Minch has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 430 m around an average of 1,303 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,669 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,890 m.

The land around Arba Minch is covered by shrubs (28%), artificial surfaces (24%) and trees (22%) within 3 km, shrubs (39%), water (22%) and trees (20%) within 16 km, and shrubs (46%) within 80 km.

3 km
430 m
16 km
1,669 m
80 km
2,890 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Ch’ench’a 24 km · Gīdolē 47 km · Kele 54 km · Yirga Ch’efē 73 km · Gasuba 76 km · Tebela 79 km · Felege Neway 79 km · Wenago 85 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 Arba Minch (6.0333°, 37.55°, elevation 1,269 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).