Climate and average weather in Ch’ench’a

In Ch’ench’a, 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: late November to early March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Ch’ench’a typically varies from 14°C to 26°C, and is rarely below 11°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 time of year to visit Ch’ench’a for warm-weather activities is from late November to early March.

Hottest
Feb
26°
Coldest
Jul
14°
Wettest
Oct
699 mm
Driest
Feb
144 mm
Rain / yr
4363 mm
276 wet days
Daylight
11.6–12.4 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
2,739 m
6.3°N
Clearest
Dec
51% cloud

Ch’ench’a is place in Ethiopia.

Density
5,647/km²
people per km²

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

Ch’ench’a 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 late November to early March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Ch’ench’a 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 15°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 14°C and high of 21°C.

Days typically run about 9°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 11°C) in February.

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2514
Feb2615
Mar2615
Apr2515
May2315
Jun2215
Jul2114
Aug2115
Sep2215
Oct2314
Nov2414
Dec2514

Average hourly temperature in Ch’ench’a

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 14°C.

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

Ch’ench’a 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° / 14°14912.611.76.6
Feb26° / 15°14412.111.86.2
Mar26° / 15°34521.5125.0
Apr25° / 15°63327.512.13.9
May23° / 15°67130.212.33.6
Jun22° / 15°27427.712.43.8
Jul21° / 14°23227.712.33.8
Aug21° / 15°26527.112.23.9
Sep22° / 15°48928.6123.8
Oct23° / 14°69929.411.93.8
Nov24° / 14°30819.111.75.4
Dec25° / 14°15612.411.66.7

Chance of rain

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

Ch’ench’a gets about 4363 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 7.5 months, from around Mar 23 to Nov 4, peaking in May at about 98% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Dec 24.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 699 mm over about 29 wet days; February is the driest, with 144 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMay 11 · 98%Dec 24 · 35%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4013
Feb4512
Mar6822
Apr9228
May9730
Jun9228
Jul8928
Aug8827
Sep9529
Oct9429
Nov6519
Dec4012

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Ch’ench’a collects about 4363 mm of rain across 276 wet days — roughly 364 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 699 mm, while February is the driest at just 144 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 46% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500550600650700750800JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec149144345633671274232265489699308156
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan14913
Feb14412
Mar34522
Apr63328
May67130
Jun27428
Jul23228
Aug26527
Sep48929
Oct69929
Nov30819
Dec15612

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Ch’ench’a, 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 5 and lasts for 4.8 months, ending around March 29. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 60% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 30 and lasts for 7.2 months, ending around November 4. 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 20 · 64%May 1 · 5%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5743
Feb5545
Mar4060
Apr1387
May991
Jun1783
Jul892
Aug1090
Sep1981
Oct1486
Nov3961
Dec6040

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 8, 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)
Jan11.76:496:29
Feb11.86:506:38
Mar12.06:416:38
Apr12.16:266:34
May12.36:176:34
Jun12.46:196:41
Jul12.36:256:45
Aug12.26:286:40
Sep12.06:236:25
Oct11.96:196:11
Nov11.76:246:06
Dec11.66:376:15

Sunny days

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

Ch’ench’a 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 4.8 months, from around Nov 2 to Mar 28. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 11 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is July, down near 0 sunny days — about 96% fewer than the December peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedDec 2112 daysJul 250 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb8Mixed
Mar6Gloomy
Apr2Gloomy
May1Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov6Gloomy
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 Ch’ench’a, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 2.6 months, from around March 25 to June 10. The muggiest month is May, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 51% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around November 4 to March 24, and December 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecDec 18 · 100%May 7 · 36%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan78212
Feb72252
Mar46459
Apr115039
May14851
Jun88210
Jul19792
Aug20773
Sep147710
Oct107021
Nov43489
Dec70291

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmNov 10 · 4 km/hSep 20 · 3 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr4calm
May4calm
Jun4calm
Jul4calm
Aug4calm
Sep3calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Best time to visit Ch’ench’a

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late February, Ch’ench’a 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 Ch’ench’a for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid November to early March, with a peak score in the last week of December.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 22 · 7.0

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
Jan6.6good
Feb6.2good
Mar5.0fair
Apr3.9fair
May3.6fair
Jun3.8fair
Jul3.8fair
Aug3.9fair
Sep3.8fair
Oct3.8fair
Nov5.4fair
Dec6.7good

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 Ch’ench’a for hot-weather activities is from late November to mid March, with a peak score in the last week of December.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 25 · 6.1

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 Ch’ench’a, 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.

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

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In February, Ch’ench’a sees daytime highs around 26°C and nights near 15°C. Pack sun protection. Worth having: light clothes and rain gear. About 12 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Ch’ench’a 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 Ch’ench’a peaks around March 15 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 15UV 15Nov 22UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Ch’ench’a

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
Jul85.5
Aug86.5
Sep86
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Ch’ench’a 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 Ch’ench’a 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

Ch’ench’a 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. Ch’ench’a banks about 3,287 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)
Jan299
Feb289
Mar325
Apr295
May284
Jun246
Jul234
Aug245
Sep256
Oct271
Nov266
Dec279

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.

Ch’ench’a receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.2 and 6.2 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around Oct 20 to Apr 25. The brightest month is February, averaging about 6.1 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.2 kWh/m² — roughly 31% less than the February peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 286.2 kWhJul 234.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.8Bright
Feb6.1Intense
Mar6.1Intense
Apr5.6Bright
May5.1Bright
Jun4.5Bright
Jul4.2Bright
Aug4.7Bright
Sep5.3Bright
Oct5.3Bright
Nov5.5Bright
Dec5.6Bright

Where is Ch’ench’a?

Ch’ench’a sits at 6.3°N, 37.6°E, 2,739 m above sea level, in Ethiopia. The nearest listed city is Arba Minch, 24 km away.

Topography around Ch’ench’a

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Ch’ench’a.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Ch’ench’a has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 490 m around an average of 2,700 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,309 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,935 m.

The land around Ch’ench’a is covered by cropland (34%) and trees (27%) within 3 km, shrubs (30%), trees (26%) and grassland (23%) within 16 km, and shrubs (43%) within 80 km.

3 km
490 m
16 km
2,309 m
80 km
2,935 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Arba Minch 24 km · Gasuba 52 km · Kele 55 km · Tebela 55 km · Gīdolē 70 km · Yirga Ch’efē 71 km · Wolaita Sodo 71 km · Bale Hawassa 75 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 Ch’ench’a (6.25°, 37.5667°, elevation 2,739 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).