Climate and average weather in Jimma

In Jimma, 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 September.

Best: late October to mid March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Jimma typically varies from 12°C to 27°C, and is rarely below 9°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 Jimma for warm-weather activities is from late October to mid March.

Hottest
Feb
27°
Coldest
Jul
13°
Wettest
Sep
248 mm
Driest
Dec
19 mm
Rain / yr
1535 mm
212 wet days
Daylight
11.6–12.4 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,719 m
7.7°N
Clearest
Dec
45% cloud

Jimma is city in southwestern Ethiopia.

Density
4,966/km²
people per km²

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

Jimma 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 October to mid March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

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

Days typically run about 11°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)
Jan2512
Feb2713
Mar2714
Apr2514
May2414
Jun2313
Jul2213
Aug2213
Sep2313
Oct2412
Nov2412
Dec2512

Average hourly temperature in Jimma

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 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

Jimma 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° / 12°244.911.67.7
Feb27° / 13°294.911.77.3
Mar27° / 14°7511.911.96.3
Apr25° / 14°14219.212.25.2
May24° / 14°22525.812.34.4
Jun23° / 13°17928.312.43.8
Jul22° / 13°19129.412.43.6
Aug22° / 13°20529.612.33.6
Sep23° / 13°24829.3123.7
Oct24° / 12°14817.911.85.7
Nov24° / 12°507.411.67.5
Dec25° / 12°193.811.68.1

Chance of rain

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

Jimma gets about 1535 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 6.2 months, from around Apr 11 to Oct 15, peaking in September at about 99% 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 248 mm over about 29 wet days; December is the driest, with 19 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetSep 11 · 99%Dec 16 · 11%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan165
Feb185
Mar3812
Apr6419
May8326
Jun9428
Jul9529
Aug9630
Sep9629
Oct5918
Nov257
Dec134

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Jimma collects about 1535 mm of rain across 212 wet days — roughly 128 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. September is the wettest month with 248 mm, while December is the driest at just 19 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 44% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec2429751422251791912052481485019
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan245
Feb295
Mar7512
Apr14219
May22526
Jun17928
Jul19129
Aug20530
Sep24829
Oct14818
Nov507
Dec194

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Jimma, 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 12 and lasts for 5.8 months, ending around April 7. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 71% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 8 and lasts for 6.1 months, ending around October 11. The cloudiest month is August, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 88% 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 15 · 73%Jul 27 · 9%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6337
Feb6238
Mar5248
Apr3367
May2575
Jun2476
Jul1288
Aug1288
Sep1783
Oct4357
Nov6238
Dec7129

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 17, 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)
Jan11.66:546:30
Feb11.76:556:40
Mar11.96:446:41
Apr12.26:286:38
May12.36:186:39
Jun12.46:206:46
Jul12.46:266:50
Aug12.36:296:44
Sep12.06:266:28
Oct11.86:236:13
Nov11.66:296:07
Dec11.66:426:16

Sunny days

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

Jimma 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 13 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.8 months, from around Oct 10 to Apr 3. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 13 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is July, down near 0 sunny days — about 100% fewer than the December peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightDec 1313 daysJul 90 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb9Mixed
Mar8Gloomy
Apr4Gloomy
May2Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug0Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct7Gloomy
Nov12Mixed
Dec13Mixed

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 Jimma, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 2.5 months, from around April 4 to June 17. The muggiest month is May, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 26% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 14 to April 3, and January is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 15 · 100%May 12 · 70%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan82180
Feb79210
Mar50473
Apr166914
May27326
Jun1937
Jul2971
Aug1971
Sep2954
Oct23734
Nov60391
Dec80200

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmMar 2 · 4 km/hSep 11 · 3 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr4calm
May4calm
Jun3calm
Jul3calm
Aug3calm
Sep3calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Hazard calendar for Jimma

In seasonPeak

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

Jimma'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 Jimma

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 15 · 8.2

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
Jan7.7ideal
Feb7.3good
Mar6.3good
Apr5.2fair
May4.4fair
Jun3.8fair
Jul3.6fair
Aug3.6fair
Sep3.7fair
Oct5.7good
Nov7.5good
Dec8.1ideal

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 Jimma for hot-weather activities is from early November to late March, with a peak score in the second week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 13 · 7.3

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 Jimma, 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.

Jimma 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 February, Jimma sees daytime highs around 27°C and nights near 13°C. Worth packing: light clothes and sun protection. About 5 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Jimma 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 Jimma peaks around March 17 at about 15 (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 17UV 15Nov 23UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug14Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Jimma

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 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
Mar8.56.5
Apr86.5
May86.5
Jun86
Jul86
Aug86.5
Sep86
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Jimma 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 Jimma is worst in January — around 53 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 1.7× the cleanest month (August, 32 µg/m³).

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecPoorModeratePoorModeratePoorJan 2253 µg/m³Aug 2032 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan53Poor
Feb53Poor
Mar42Poor
Apr37Poor
May33Moderate
Jun37Poor
Jul35Moderate
Aug32Moderate
Sep33Moderate
Oct39Poor
Nov44Poor
Dec48Poor
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Jimma 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. Jimma banks about 3,095 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)
Jan273
Feb278
Mar316
Apr291
May273
Jun237
Jul227
Aug232
Sep232
Oct248
Nov239
Dec251

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.

Jimma receives about 5.4 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.4 and 6.1 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.0 months, from around Jan 12 to May 13. The brightest month is March, averaging about 6.1 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.5 kWh/m² — roughly 26% less than the March peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 276.1 kWhJul 234.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.5Bright
Feb5.9Bright
Mar6.0Intense
Apr5.9Bright
May5.4Bright
Jun4.7Bright
Jul4.5Bright
Aug4.8Bright
Sep5.3Bright
Oct5.8Bright
Nov5.7Bright
Dec5.5Bright

Where is Jimma?

Jimma sits at 7.7°N, 36.8°E, 1,719 m above sea level, in Ethiopia. The nearest listed city is Āgaro, 28 km away.

BedelēHadero

Topography around Jimma

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Jimma has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 144 m around an average of 1,729 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 890 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,535 m.

The land around Jimma is covered by artificial surfaces (46%) and trees (29%) within 3 km, trees (41%) and cropland (25%) within 16 km, and trees (44%), cropland (24%) and shrubs (22%) within 80 km.

3 km
144 m
16 km
890 m
80 km
2,535 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswetland
Nearby: Āgaro 28 km · Suntu 49 km · Tarch’a Sodo 69 km · Waka 77 km · Bonga 78 km · Gīmbīcho 91 km · Bedelē 102 km · Hadero 106 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 Jimma (7.6734°, 36.8344°, elevation 1,719 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).