Climate and average weather in Gondar

In Gondar, the summers are warm, showery, and mostly clear and the winters are mild and mostly cloudy.

Best: mid October to late December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Gondar typically varies from 10°C to 27°C, and is rarely below 9°C or above 30°C. April is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Apr
27°
Coldest
Jul
13°
Wettest
Aug
559 mm
Driest
Dec
4 mm
Rain / yr
2038 mm
152 wet days
Daylight
11.3–12.7 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
2,201 m
12.6°N
Clearest
Dec
30% cloud

Gondar is city, former capital of Ethiopia.

Founded
1635

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

Gondar 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 late December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Gondar stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is April, with an average high of 27°C and low of 15°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 13°C and high of 21°C.

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

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2511
Feb2712
Mar2714
Apr2715
May2615
Jun2314
Jul2113
Aug2113
Sep2213
Oct2412
Nov2411
Dec2410

Average hourly temperature in Gondar

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

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

Gondar 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°40.811.38.8
Feb27° / 12°51.211.68.3
Mar27° / 14°245.511.97.4
Apr27° / 15°408.212.36.8
May26° / 15°11213.912.66.1
Jun23° / 14°28425.512.74.4
Jul21° / 13°47830.912.73.3
Aug21° / 13°5593112.43.3
Sep22° / 13°43123.512.14.7
Oct24° / 12°857.111.77.7
Nov24° / 11°142.911.48.7
Dec24° / 10°4111.39.1

Chance of rain

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

Gondar gets about 2038 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 4.7 months, from around May 14 to Oct 2, peaking in July at about 100% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 31.

August is the wettest month by volume, with 559 mm over about 31 wet days; December is the driest, with 4 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJul 18 · 100%Jan 31 · 2%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan21
Feb41
Mar186
Apr288
May4514
Jun8426
Jul9931
Aug10031
Sep7724
Oct247
Nov93
Dec31

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Gondar collects about 2038 mm of rain across 152 wet days — roughly 170 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. August is the wettest month with 559 mm, while December is the driest at just 4 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 72% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500550600650JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec45244011228447855943185144
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan41
Feb51
Mar246
Apr408
May11214
Jun28426
Jul47831
Aug55931
Sep43124
Oct857
Nov143
Dec41

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Gondar, 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 24 and lasts for 7.2 months, ending around April 29. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 89% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 30 and lasts for 4.8 months, ending around September 23. The cloudiest month is August, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 89% 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 · 89%Aug 5 · 7%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan8416
Feb8119
Mar7525
Apr6931
May5941
Jun4753
Jul1387
Aug1189
Sep4852
Oct7426
Nov8713
Dec8911

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 42 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 18 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.36:596:19
Feb11.66:576:32
Mar11.96:426:37
Apr12.36:226:39
May12.66:096:44
Jun12.76:086:52
Jul12.76:156:56
Aug12.46:226:47
Sep12.16:226:27
Oct11.76:246:07
Nov11.46:335:58
Dec11.36:486:04

Sunny days

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

Gondar averages about 12 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 22 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.7 months, from around Sep 27 to Mar 19. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 22 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is August, down near 0 sunny days — about 98% fewer than the December peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantDec 1622 daysAug 50 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan20Bright
Feb16Bright
Mar13Mixed
Apr11Mixed
May9Mixed
Jun5Gloomy
Jul1Gloomy
Aug0Gloomy
Sep7Gloomy
Oct16Bright
Nov21Bright
Dec22Bright

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 Gondar, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in August, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 3% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrycomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan10000
Feb10000
Mar9820
Apr9640
May80201
Jun33661
Jul1971
Aug0973
Sep25741
Oct84160
Nov9820
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 Gondar is typically calm, near 6 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.9 months, from around Nov 13 to Jun 11. The windiest month is March, averaging about 7 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jun 12 to Nov 12, with September the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeMar 4 · 8 km/hSep 11 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan7calm
Feb8calm
Mar7calm
Apr7calm
May7calm
Jun6calm
Jul5calm
Aug5calm
Sep5calm
Oct6calm
Nov6calm
Dec7calm

Hazard calendar for Gondar

In seasonPeak

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

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

Gondar sees seasonal dust haze (June), heaviest in June.

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

Best time to visit Gondar

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late October, Gondar 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 Gondar for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid October to mid March, with a peak score in the last week of December.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 27 · 9.1

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
Jan8.8ideal
Feb8.3ideal
Mar7.4good
Apr6.8good
May6.1good
Jun4.4fair
Jul3.3poor
Aug3.3poor
Sep4.7fair
Oct7.6ideal
Nov8.7ideal
Dec9.0ideal

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 7 · 8.2

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 Gondar, 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 27°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 21°C), pack rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In April, Gondar sees daytime highs around 27°C and nights near 15°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 8 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Gondar 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 Gondar peaks around March 21 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 12 at about 10 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highMar 21UV 15Dec 12UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug14Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov10Extreme
Dec10Very high

Average hourly UV index in Gondar

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
Feb86
Mar86.5
Apr8.57
May8.56.5
Jun8.56.5
Jul86
Aug8.56.5
Sep86
Oct86
Nov7.55
Dec75

Air quality in Gondar 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 Gondar is worst in April — around 27 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateOct 1126 µg/m³May 1720 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan22Moderate
Feb22Moderate
Mar26Moderate
Apr27Moderate
May20Moderate
Jun25Moderate
Jul24Moderate
Aug22Moderate
Sep26Moderate
Oct27Moderate
Nov23Moderate
Dec21Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Gondar 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. Gondar banks about 3,066 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)
Jan240
Feb262
Mar323
Apr329
May323
Jun252
Jul212
Aug215
Sep224
Oct238
Nov223
Dec226

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.

Gondar receives about 6.0 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.6 and 7.0 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.4 months, from around Jan 15 to May 29. The brightest month is April, averaging about 6.9 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.8 kWh/m² — roughly 31% less than the April peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 97.0 kWhJul 284.6 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.0Intense
Feb6.5Intense
Mar6.8Intense
Apr6.9Intense
May6.3Intense
Jun5.5Bright
Jul4.7Bright
Aug5.0Bright
Sep5.9Bright
Oct6.2Intense
Nov6.0Intense
Dec5.8Bright

Where is Gondar?

Gondar sits at 12.6°N, 37.5°E, 2,201 m above sea level, in Ethiopia. The nearest listed city is K’ola Diba, 25 km away.

Topography around Gondar

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Gondar has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 395 m around an average of 2,150 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,258 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,365 m.

The land around Gondar is covered by artificial surfaces (31%) and cropland (26%) within 3 km, cropland (66%) within 16 km, and cropland (48%) and grassland (23%) within 80 km.

3 km
395 m
16 km
1,258 m
80 km
2,365 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: K’ola Diba 25 km · Amba Giorgis 25 km · Maksenyit 26 km · Āykel 44 km · Dabat 54 km · Tikil Dingay 63 km · Ādīs Zemen 64 km · Debark’ 78 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 Gondar (12.6°, 37.4667°, elevation 2,201 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).