Climate and average weather in Lalibela

In Lalibela, 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: late September to mid June

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Lalibela typically varies from 9°C to 25°C, and is rarely below 6°C or above 28°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while August is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Lalibela for warm-weather activities is from late September to mid June.

Hottest
Mar
25°
Coldest
Aug
11°
Wettest
Aug
521 mm
Driest
Dec
4 mm
Rain / yr
1470 mm
113 wet days
Daylight
11.3–12.7 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
2,481 m
12.0°N
Clearest
Dec
27% cloud

Lalibela is Town of Ethiopia.

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

Lalibela 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 September to mid June.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Lalibela stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 25°C and low of 12°C; the coolest is August, with an average low of 11°C and high of 20°C.

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

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2410
Feb2511
Mar2512
Apr2513
May2513
Jun2412
Jul2011
Aug2011
Sep2110
Oct229
Nov239
Dec239

Average hourly temperature in Lalibela

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 25°C, and coldest before dawn in August, near 11°C.

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

Lalibela 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
Jan24° / 10°51.211.48.8
Feb25° / 11°11211.68.5
Mar25° / 12°375.911.97.7
Apr25° / 13°476.612.37.5
May25° / 13°595.812.57.6
Jun24° / 12°10110.412.76.8
Jul20° / 11°49729.312.63.6
Aug20° / 11°52130.812.43.4
Sep21° / 10°15715.712.15.8
Oct22° / 212.911.78.1
Nov23° / 101.411.48.7
Dec23° / 41.111.38.9

Chance of rain

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

Lalibela gets about 1470 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 3.3 months, from around Jun 15 to Sep 21, peaking in August at about 99% 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 521 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 wetAug 1 · 99%Jan 31 · 3%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan41
Feb72
Mar196
Apr227
May186
Jun3710
Jul9329
Aug9831
Sep5316
Oct93
Nov51
Dec41

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Lalibela collects about 1470 mm of rain across 113 wet days — roughly 122 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. August is the wettest month with 521 mm, while December is the driest at just 4 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 80% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500550600JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec51137475910149752115721104
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan51
Feb112
Mar376
Apr477
May596
Jun10110
Jul49729
Aug52131
Sep15716
Oct213
Nov101
Dec41

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Lalibela, 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 9 and lasts for 7.5 months, ending around April 25. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 88% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 31 and lasts for 3.3 months, ending around September 8. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 66% 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 23 · 88%Aug 2 · 21%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7921
Feb7822
Mar7327
Apr7030
May6634
Jun5941
Jul3466
Aug3466
Sep7327
Oct7822
Nov8614
Dec8812

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 1, 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)
Jan11.46:526:14
Feb11.66:506:26
Mar11.96:366:31
Apr12.36:166:32
May12.56:036:37
Jun12.76:036:45
Jul12.66:106:49
Aug12.46:166:40
Sep12.16:166:20
Oct11.76:176:01
Nov11.46:265:52
Dec11.36:415:59

Sunny days

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

Lalibela averages about 13 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 22 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.3 months, from around Oct 15 to Mar 24. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 21 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is August, down near 3 sunny days — about 88% fewer than the December peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantDec 1222 daysAug 21 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan18Bright
Feb15Bright
Mar14Mixed
Apr13Mixed
May12Mixed
Jun7Gloomy
Jul2Gloomy
Aug3Gloomy
Sep11Mixed
Oct14Mixed
Nov20Bright
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 Lalibela, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in July, 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 (%)
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May991
Jun991
Jul928
Aug9010
Sep991
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

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 Lalibela is steady company: average speeds sit near 5 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmFeb 4 · 6 km/hJul 24 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr6calm
May6calm
Jun5calm
Jul4calm
Aug4calm
Sep5calm
Oct6calm
Nov6calm
Dec6calm

Hazard calendar for Lalibela

In seasonPeak

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

Lalibela's monsoon runs July–August, when most of the year's rain falls.

Lalibela sees seasonal dust haze (June–July), heaviest in June.

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

Best time to visit Lalibela

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early June, Lalibela 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 Lalibela for general outdoor tourist activities is from late September to mid June, with a peak score in the first week of December.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 5 · 8.9

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
Feb8.5ideal
Mar7.7ideal
Apr7.5good
May7.6ideal
Jun6.7good
Jul3.7fair
Aug3.4poor
Sep5.8good
Oct8.1ideal
Nov8.7ideal
Dec8.9ideal

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 Lalibela for hot-weather activities is from late October to mid June, with a peak score in the first week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 4 · 7.8

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 Lalibela, 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.

Lalibela packs about the same all year — highs hold near 25°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, Lalibela sees daytime highs around 25°C and nights near 12°C. Pack sun protection. Worth having: light clothes. About 6 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Lalibela 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 Lalibela peaks around March 20 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 12 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 20UV 16Dec 12UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May14Extreme
Jun13Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug14Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec10Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Lalibela

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)
Jan7.55.5
Feb86
Mar8.57
Apr8.56.5
May8.56.5
Jun8.56.5
Jul86
Aug8.56.5
Sep86.5
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec75

Air quality in Lalibela 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 Lalibela is worst in September — around 40 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorModeratePoorModerateSep 1639 µg/m³Nov 2228 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan30Moderate
Feb29Moderate
Mar31Moderate
Apr29Moderate
May33Moderate
Jun38Poor
Jul31Moderate
Aug32Moderate
Sep40Poor
Oct32Moderate
Nov28Moderate
Dec29Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Lalibela 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. Lalibela banks about 2,525 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around April.

01,0002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan213
Feb228
Mar272
Apr271
May277
Jun238
Jul167
Aug156
Sep161
Oct183
Nov176
Dec183

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.

Lalibela receives about 6.0 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 5.1 and 6.7 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.2 months, from around Jan 28 to Jun 5. The brightest month is April, averaging about 6.7 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 5.2 kWh/m² — roughly 22% less than the April peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 126.7 kWhJul 295.1 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.8Bright
Feb6.3Intense
Mar6.5Intense
Apr6.7Intense
May6.5Intense
Jun5.7Bright
Jul5.2Bright
Aug5.4Bright
Sep6.0Bright
Oct6.3Intense
Nov6.0Intense
Dec5.7Bright

Where is Lalibela?

Lalibela sits at 12.0°N, 39.0°E, 2,481 m above sea level, in Ethiopia. The nearest listed city is Filakit, 49 km away.

Maych’ew

Topography around Lalibela

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Lalibela has large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,129 m around an average of 2,441 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,162 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,975 m.

The land around Lalibela is covered by grassland (36%), cropland (23%) and shrubs (22%) within 3 km, grassland (46%) and cropland (36%) within 16 km, and cropland (39%), grassland (36%) and shrubs (24%) within 80 km.

3 km
1,129 m
16 km
2,162 m
80 km
2,975 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrain
Nearby: Filakit 49 km · Weldiya 63 km · Sek’ot’a 67 km · Alamata 70 km · Nefas Mewch’a 71 km · Korem 74 km · Mersa 77 km · Maych’ew 100 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 Lalibela (12.0322°, 39.0476°, elevation 2,481 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).