Climate and average weather in Bishoftu

In Bishoftu, the weather is warm, wet, and mostly clear and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around August.

Best: early October to late December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Bishoftu typically varies from 10°C to 27°C, and is rarely below 7°C or above 30°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 Bishoftu for warm-weather activities are from early January to mid March and early October to late December.

Hottest
Mar
27°
Coldest
Aug
13°
Wettest
Aug
197 mm
Driest
Dec
2 mm
Rain / yr
807 mm
136 wet days
Daylight
11.5–12.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,978 m
8.8°N
Clearest
Dec
30% cloud

Bishoftu is town in Ethiopia.

Density
1,481/km²
people per km²

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

Bishoftu 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 October to late December.

Clouds and sunshine — see detailsovercastclearPrecipitation — see detailsprecipitation: 203 mmHumidity comfort — see detailshumiditycomfortableTemperature — see detailswarmmildwarmBest time to visit — see detailstravel score: 9.2JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Bishoftu stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 27°C and low of 14°C; the coolest is August, with an average low of 13°C and high of 22°C.

Days typically run about 12°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 14°C) in December.

5°10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2511
Feb2612
Mar2714
Apr2714
May2714
Jun2514
Jul2313
Aug2213
Sep2313
Oct2412
Nov2411
Dec2410

Average hourly temperature in Bishoftu

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 27°C, and coldest before dawn in August, near 13°C.

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

Bishoftu 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° / 11°61.711.58.6
Feb26° / 12°92.311.78.1
Mar27° / 14°296.711.97.3
Apr27° / 14°5210.412.26.5
May27° / 14°6410.412.46.5
Jun25° / 14°10719.112.55.4
Jul23° / 13°1842912.54.0
Aug22° / 13°19729.712.33.8
Sep23° / 13°12620.512.15.4
Oct24° / 12°264.411.88.2
Nov24° / 11°61.211.68.9
Dec24° / 10°20.611.59.1

Chance of rain

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

Bishoftu gets about 807 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 4.0 months, from around May 30 to Sep 29, peaking in August at about 96% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Dec 14.

August is the wettest month by volume, with 197 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 3 · 96%Dec 14 · 1%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan62
Feb92
Mar217
Apr3410
May3510
Jun6419
Jul9329
Aug9530
Sep6721
Oct154
Nov41
Dec21

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Bishoftu collects about 807 mm of rain across 136 wet days — roughly 67 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. August is the wettest month with 197 mm, while December is the driest at just 2 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 63% of the year’s total.

050100150200250JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec692952641071841971262662
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan62
Feb92
Mar297
Apr5210
May6410
Jun10719
Jul18429
Aug19730
Sep12621
Oct264
Nov61
Dec21

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Bishoftu, 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 4 and lasts for 6.5 months, ending around March 19. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 84% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 20 and lasts for 5.5 months, ending around September 3. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 49% 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 5 · 86%Aug 2 · 43%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7723
Feb7525
Mar7030
Apr5842
May6040
Jun6337
Jul5149
Aug5446
Sep7426
Oct7822
Nov8317
Dec8416

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 27, 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)
Jan11.56:476:20
Feb11.76:476:30
Mar11.96:366:32
Apr12.26:196:30
May12.46:086:32
Jun12.56:096:40
Jul12.56:166:44
Aug12.36:196:37
Sep12.16:176:20
Oct11.86:156:03
Nov11.66:225:57
Dec11.56:356:05

Sunny days

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

Bishoftu averages about 12 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 2 and 21 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.8 months, from around Sep 26 to Mar 21. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 20 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is August, down near 3 sunny days — about 85% fewer than the December peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantDec 921 daysAug 62 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan17Bright
Feb15Bright
Mar14Mixed
Apr9Mixed
May11Mixed
Jun8Mixed
Jul4Gloomy
Aug3Gloomy
Sep9Mixed
Oct17Bright
Nov20Bright
Dec20Bright

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 Bishoftu, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in May, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 0% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccomfortabledry
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)
Jan982
Feb955
Mar8812
Apr7426
May7128
Jun4258
Jul1189
Aug595
Sep3565
Oct8713
Nov955
Dec982

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 Bishoftu is typically calm, near 9 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.8 months, from around Oct 10 to May 3. The windiest month is November, averaging about 10 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around May 4 to Oct 9, with September the calmest month at about 6 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeNov 11 · 10 km/hSep 10 · 6 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan9calm
Feb10calm
Mar10calm
Apr9calm
May8calm
Jun7calm
Jul7calm
Aug7calm
Sep6calm
Oct9calm
Nov10calm
Dec10calm

Hazard calendar for Bishoftu

In seasonPeak

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

Bishoftu's monsoon runs June–September, when most of the year's rain falls.

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

Best time to visit Bishoftu

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid October, Bishoftu 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 Bishoftu for general outdoor tourist activities is from early October to mid March, with a peak score in the third week of December.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 15 · 9.2

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
Jan8.6ideal
Feb8.1ideal
Mar7.3good
Apr6.5good
May6.5good
Jun5.4fair
Jul4.0fair
Aug3.9fair
Sep5.4fair
Oct8.2ideal
Nov8.9ideal
Dec9.1ideal

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 Bishoftu for hot-weather activities is from early October to late May, with a peak score in the third week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 21 · 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 Bishoftu, 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.

Bishoftu packs about the same all year — highs hold near 27°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 March, Bishoftu sees daytime highs around 27°C and nights near 14°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 7 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Bishoftu 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 Bishoftu peaks around March 18 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near November 23 at about 11 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 18UV 16Nov 23UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug14Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Bishoftu

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 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7 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
Mar8.57
Apr8.56.5
May8.56.5
Jun86
Jul86
Aug8.56.5
Sep86
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Bishoftu 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 Bishoftu is worst in September — around 44 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorModeratePoorModerateSep 1943 µg/m³Apr 1132 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan33Moderate
Feb32Moderate
Mar33Moderate
Apr32Moderate
May36Poor
Jun42Poor
Jul33Moderate
Aug33Moderate
Sep44Poor
Oct39Poor
Nov33Moderate
Dec34Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Bishoftu 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. Bishoftu banks about 3,150 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around April.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan241
Feb257
Mar320
Apr319
May326
Jun280
Jul245
Aug237
Sep234
Oct248
Nov226
Dec218

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.

Bishoftu receives about 6.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — intense — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 5.2 and 6.7 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 56.7 kWhJul 275.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.0Intense
Feb6.5Intense
Mar6.7Intense
Apr6.6Intense
May6.3Intense
Jun5.5Bright
Jul5.2Bright
Aug5.5Bright
Sep6.0Intense
Oct6.6Intense
Nov6.3Intense
Dec6.0Intense

Where is Bishoftu?

Bishoftu sits at 8.8°N, 39.0°E, 1,978 m above sea level, in Ethiopia. The nearest listed city is Mojo, 24 km away.

Topography around Bishoftu

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Bishoftu has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 279 m around an average of 1,908 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,253 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,535 m.

The land around Bishoftu is covered by artificial surfaces (33%), cropland (27%) and shrubs (20%) within 3 km, cropland (78%) within 16 km, and cropland (74%) within 80 km.

3 km
279 m
16 km
1,253 m
80 km
2,535 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetland
Nearby: Mojo 24 km · Adama 39 km · Addis Ababa 40 km · Dēra 42 km · Wonji 42 km · Sebeta 44 km · Sendafa 45 km · Burayu 47 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 Bishoftu (8.7523°, 38.9785°, elevation 1,978 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).