Climate and average weather in Bale Hawassa

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

Best: mid October to mid February

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Bale Hawassa typically varies from 16°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 13°C or above 34°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Bale Hawassa for warm-weather activities is from mid October to mid February.

Hottest
Feb
31°
Coldest
Jul
16°
Wettest
Sep
186 mm
Driest
Dec
11 mm
Rain / yr
1179 mm
198 wet days
Daylight
11.6–12.4 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,239 m
6.9°N
Clearest
Dec
41% cloud

Bale Hawassa is City in Wolayita, Ethiopia.

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

Bale Hawassa 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 mid February.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Bale Hawassa stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 31°C and low of 17°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 16°C and high of 24°C.

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

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3016
Feb3117
Mar3118
Apr2918
May2717
Jun2516
Jul2416
Aug2516
Sep2616
Oct2716
Nov2916
Dec3016

Average hourly temperature in Bale Hawassa

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 31°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 16°C.

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

Bale Hawassa 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
Jan30° / 16°133.211.65.9
Feb31° / 17°153.811.85.0
Mar31° / 18°5110.9124.4
Apr29° / 18°13520.812.14.0
May27° / 17°1842612.34.1
Jun25° / 16°13626.612.44.2
Jul24° / 16°1492712.44.3
Aug25° / 16°16427.412.24.2
Sep26° / 16°18627.3124.1
Oct27° / 16°1041711.85.3
Nov29° / 16°315.311.76.1
Dec30° / 16°112.511.66.3

Chance of rain

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

Bale Hawassa gets about 1179 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 6.5 months, from around Apr 1 to Oct 16, peaking in September at about 91% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Dec 16.

September is the wettest month by volume, with 186 mm over about 27 wet days; December is the driest, with 11 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetSep 14 · 91%Dec 16 · 7%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan113
Feb144
Mar3511
Apr6921
May8426
Jun8827
Jul8727
Aug8927
Sep8927
Oct5617
Nov185
Dec83

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Bale Hawassa collects about 1179 mm of rain across 198 wet days — roughly 98 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. September is the wettest month with 186 mm, while December is the driest at just 11 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 45% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1315511351841361491641861043111
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan133
Feb154
Mar5111
Apr13521
May18426
Jun13627
Jul14927
Aug16427
Sep18627
Oct10417
Nov315
Dec113

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Bale Hawassa, 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 15 and lasts for 5.3 months, ending around March 23. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 76% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 24 and lasts for 6.7 months, ending around October 14. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 75% 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 19 · 78%Jul 31 · 21%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6931
Feb6535
Mar5347
Apr3565
May3466
Jun3961
Jul2575
Aug2773
Sep4555
Oct5248
Nov6634
Dec7624

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 26, brings about 12 h 24 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, 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)
Jan11.66:506:28
Feb11.86:516:38
Mar12.06:416:38
Apr12.16:266:35
May12.36:176:36
Jun12.46:186:42
Jul12.46:256:46
Aug12.26:276:41
Sep12.06:236:25
Oct11.86:206:10
Nov11.76:256:06
Dec11.66:386:14

Sunny days

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

Bale Hawassa averages about 6 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 15 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.4 months, from around Oct 17 to Mar 29. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 14 sunny days (mixed).

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

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightDec 1915 daysJul 260 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan12Mixed
Feb10Mixed
Mar8Mixed
Apr4Gloomy
May3Gloomy
Jun2Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep2Gloomy
Oct6Gloomy
Nov11Mixed
Dec14Mixed

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 Bale Hawassa, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around April 12 to October 16. The muggiest month is May, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 85% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 17 to April 11, and December is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 98% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecDec 23 · 100%May 17 · 12%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan851320
Feb811720
Mar5534110
Apr1634490
May113841
Jun026740
Jul040600
Aug033670
Sep125740
Oct2336410
Nov682390
Dec851320

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmFeb 9 · 4 km/hSep 15 · 3 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr3calm
May3calm
Jun3calm
Jul3calm
Aug3calm
Sep3calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Hazard calendar for Bale Hawassa

In seasonPeak

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

Bale Hawassa's rainy season runs April–October, when most of the year's rain falls.

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

Best time to visit Bale Hawassa

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late October, Bale Hawassa 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 Bale Hawassa for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid October to mid February, with a peak score in the third week of December.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 18 · 6.4

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
Jan5.9good
Feb5.0fair
Mar4.4fair
Apr4.0fair
May4.1fair
Jun4.2fair
Jul4.3fair
Aug4.2fair
Sep4.1fair
Oct5.3fair
Nov6.1good
Dec6.3good

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 Bale Hawassa for hot-weather activities is from late October to mid March, with a peak score in the third week of December.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 17 · 8.5

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 Bale Hawassa, 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 February (highs near 31°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 24°C), pack light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In February, Bale Hawassa sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 17°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 4 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Bale Hawassa 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 Bale Hawassa peaks around March 16 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near November 22 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 22UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug14Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Bale Hawassa

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)
Jan7.56
Feb86.5
Mar86.5
Apr8.56.5
May86
Jun86
Jul86
Aug86.5
Sep86
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Bale Hawassa 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 Bale Hawassa is worst in January — around 69 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 1.8× the cleanest month (May, 38 µg/m³).

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyPoorUnhealthyJan 1468 µg/m³May 938 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan69Unhealthy
Feb61Unhealthy
Mar49Poor
Apr38Poor
May38Poor
Jun45Poor
Jul44Poor
Aug39Poor
Sep40Poor
Oct45Poor
Nov56Unhealthy
Dec65Unhealthy
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Bale Hawassa 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. Bale Hawassa banks about 4,414 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around March.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan408
Feb400
Mar454
Apr403
May366
Jun318
Jul309
Aug316
Sep320
Oct359
Nov372
Dec390

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.

Bale Hawassa receives about 5.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.7 and 6.4 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 7.3 months, from around Sep 28 to May 8. The brightest month is March, averaging about 6.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.7 kWh/m² — roughly 27% less than the March peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 26.4 kWhJul 234.7 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.0Bright
Feb6.3Intense
Mar6.4Intense
Apr6.1Intense
May5.6Bright
Jun4.9Bright
Jul4.7Bright
Aug5.1Bright
Sep5.6Bright
Oct6.0Intense
Nov6.2Intense
Dec6.0Bright

Where is Bale Hawassa?

Bale Hawassa sits at 6.9°N, 37.5°E, 1,239 m above sea level, in Ethiopia. The nearest listed city is Gununo, 14 km away.

Topography around Bale Hawassa

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Bale Hawassa has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 242 m around an average of 1,225 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,062 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,948 m.

The land around Bale Hawassa is covered by cropland (61%) within 3 km, shrubs (38%) and cropland (24%) within 16 km, and shrubs (35%) and cropland (29%) within 80 km.

3 km
242 m
16 km
2,062 m
80 km
2,948 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Gununo 14 km · Gasuba 23 km · Āreka 25 km · Wolaita Sodo 27 km · Hadero 35 km · Tebela 36 km · Bodītī 38 km · Shanto 38 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 Bale Hawassa (6.919°, 37.529°, elevation 1,239 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).