Climate and average weather in Metu

In Metu, the summers are hot, fairly dry, and partly cloudy and the winters are warm and mostly cloudy.

Best: early November to late December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Metu typically varies from 13°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 11°C or above 31°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Mar
29°
Coldest
Jul
14°
Wettest
Jul
166 mm
Driest
Jan
6 mm
Rain / yr
979 mm
191 wet days
Daylight
11.5–12.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,700 m
8.3°N
Clearest
Dec
44% cloud

Metu is market town in southwestern Ethiopia.

Density
3,672/km²
people per km²

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

Metu 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 November to late December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Metu stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 29°C and low of 16°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 14°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°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2714
Feb2915
Mar2916
Apr2816
May2515
Jun2314
Jul2214
Aug2214
Sep2314
Oct2414
Nov2513
Dec2613

Average hourly temperature in Metu

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 29°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 14°C.

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

Metu 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
Jan27° / 14°6211.67.8
Feb29° / 15°82.211.76.8
Mar29° / 16°226.511.96.0
Apr28° / 16°7114.312.25.4
May25° / 15°15525.812.44.3
Jun23° / 14°15527.412.54.0
Jul22° / 14°16628.512.43.8
Aug22° / 14°15628.412.33.8
Sep23° / 14°11825.4124.4
Oct24° / 14°8219.711.85.5
Nov25° / 13°338.211.67.2
Dec26° / 13°82.311.58.2

Chance of rain

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

Metu gets about 979 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 6.3 months, from around Apr 19 to Oct 28, peaking in July at about 93% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Dec 24.

July is the wettest month by volume, with 166 mm over about 29 wet days; January is the driest, with 6 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJul 29 · 93%Dec 24 · 5%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan62
Feb82
Mar217
Apr4814
May8326
Jun9127
Jul9229
Aug9228
Sep8425
Oct6320
Nov298
Dec72

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Metu collects about 979 mm of rain across 191 wet days — roughly 82 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. July is the wettest month with 166 mm, while January is the driest at just 6 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 49% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec68227115515516615611882338
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan62
Feb82
Mar227
Apr7114
May15526
Jun15527
Jul16629
Aug15628
Sep11825
Oct8220
Nov338
Dec82

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Metu, 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 18 and lasts for 5.5 months, ending around April 2. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 77% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 3 and lasts for 6.5 months, ending around October 17. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 81% 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 · 79%Jul 31 · 16%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6931
Feb6733
Mar5446
Apr3367
May2773
Jun3169
Jul1981
Aug2278
Sep3763
Oct4555
Nov6337
Dec7723

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 2, 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)
Jan11.67:006:34
Feb11.77:006:44
Mar11.96:496:46
Apr12.26:326:43
May12.46:236:45
Jun12.56:246:52
Jul12.46:306:56
Aug12.36:346:50
Sep12.06:316:33
Oct11.86:286:17
Nov11.66:346:11
Dec11.56:486:19

Sunny days

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

Metu 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 16 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.2 months, from around Oct 26 to Apr 1. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 15 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is July, down near 0 sunny days — about 97% fewer than the December peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightDec 1616 daysJul 300 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan12Mixed
Feb10Mixed
Mar7Gloomy
Apr3Gloomy
May1Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug0Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct4Gloomy
Nov10Mixed
Dec15Mixed

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 2.9 months, from around April 16 to July 12. The muggiest month is May, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 64% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 31 to April 15, 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 28 · 100%May 16 · 32%humiddrycomfortablecomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan81190
Feb83170
Mar64352
Apr265123
May13564
Jun05248
Jul07624
Aug07426
Sep06832
Oct46927
Nov226810
Dec60390

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmMar 30 · 6 km/hJul 7 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar6calm
Apr5calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul5calm
Aug5calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Metu

In seasonPeak

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

Metu's rainy season runs May–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 Metu

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 19 · 8.3

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
Jan7.8ideal
Feb6.9good
Mar6.0good
Apr5.4fair
May4.3fair
Jun4.0fair
Jul3.8fair
Aug3.8fair
Sep4.4fair
Oct5.5fair
Nov7.2good
Dec8.2ideal

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 8 · 8.3

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 Metu, 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 March (highs near 29°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 22°C), pack light clothes and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In March, Metu sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 16°C. Pack light clothes. Worth having: sun protection. About 7 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Metu 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 Metu peaks around March 17 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 11 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 17UV 15Dec 11UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan11Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug14Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov10Extreme
Dec10Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Metu

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)
Jan7.55.5
Feb7.56
Mar8.56.5
Apr86
May86
Jun85.5
Jul86
Aug8.56.5
Sep86
Oct7.56
Nov75
Dec75

Air quality in Metu 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 Metu is worst in February — around 52 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 2.9× the cleanest month (May, 18 µg/m³).

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecPoorModerateFeb 852 µg/m³May 1818 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan51Poor
Feb52Poor
Mar37Poor
Apr24Moderate
May18Moderate
Jun23Moderate
Jul22Moderate
Aug19Moderate
Sep19Moderate
Oct21Moderate
Nov29Moderate
Dec37Poor
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Metu 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. Metu banks about 3,524 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)
Jan320
Feb327
Mar380
Apr351
May312
Jun260
Jul245
Aug250
Sep257
Oct275
Nov263
Dec284

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.

Metu receives about 5.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.3 and 5.9 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.4 months, from around Dec 23 to May 4. The brightest month is March, averaging about 5.8 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.3 kWh/m² — roughly 26% less than the March peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 265.9 kWhJul 174.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.3Bright
Feb5.7Bright
Mar5.9Bright
Apr5.5Bright
May5.0Bright
Jun4.6Bright
Jul4.3Bright
Aug4.6Bright
Sep5.1Bright
Oct5.2Bright
Nov5.2Bright
Dec5.1Bright

Where is Metu?

Metu sits at 8.3°N, 35.6°E, 1,700 m above sea level, in Ethiopia. The nearest listed city is Bedelē, 86 km away.

GimbiGambēlaTēpīĀgaroWachaNejo

Topography around Metu

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Metu has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 252 m around an average of 1,676 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 834 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,382 m.

The land around Metu is covered by trees (59%) within 3 km, trees (58%) and cropland (20%) within 16 km, and trees (62%) and cropland (23%) within 80 km.

3 km
252 m
16 km
834 m
80 km
2,382 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswetland
Nearby: Bedelē 86 km · Dembī Dolo 90 km · Gimbi 101 km · Gambēla 110 km · Tēpī 123 km · Āgaro 128 km · Wacha 130 km · Nejo 134 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 Metu (8.3°, 35.5833°, elevation 1,700 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).