Climate and average weather in Yirga Ch’efē

In Yirga Ch’efē, 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 mid March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Yirga Ch’efē typically varies from 11°C to 26°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 Yirga Ch’efē for warm-weather activities is from late November to mid March.

Hottest
Feb
26°
Coldest
Jul
13°
Wettest
Oct
535 mm
Driest
Jan
63 mm
Rain / yr
2947 mm
226 wet days
Daylight
11.6–12.4 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,831 m
6.2°N
Clearest
Dec
49% cloud

Yirga Ch’efē is coffee from the Yirgacheffe zone in Ethiopia.

Density
18,404/km²
people per km²

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

Yirga Ch’efē 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 mid March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Yirga Ch’efē 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 13°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 13°C and high of 20°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 13°C) in February.

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2512
Feb2613
Mar2614
Apr2414
May2214
Jun2113
Jul2013
Aug2113
Sep2213
Oct2213
Nov2312
Dec2411

Average hourly temperature in Yirga Ch’efē

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 13°C.

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

Yirga Ch’efē 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°63711.77.6
Feb26° / 13°676.611.87.2
Mar26° / 14°20413.4126.2
Apr24° / 14°44923.712.14.5
May22° / 14°45628.412.33.8
Jun21° / 13°20323.812.44.2
Jul20° / 13°1282212.34.4
Aug21° / 13°1372212.24.5
Sep22° / 13°26423.8124.4
Oct22° / 13°53528.311.93.9
Nov23° / 12°3391811.75.5
Dec24° / 11°1038.911.67.3

Chance of rain

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

Yirga Ch’efē gets about 2947 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 31 to Nov 13, peaking in October at about 93% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 3.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 535 mm over about 28 wet days; January is the driest, with 63 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 10 · 93%Jan 3 · 20%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan227
Feb257
Mar4313
Apr7924
May9128
Jun7924
Jul7122
Aug7222
Sep8024
Oct9028
Nov6018
Dec299

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Yirga Ch’efē collects about 2947 mm of rain across 226 wet days — roughly 246 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 535 mm, while January is the driest at just 63 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 49% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500550600JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec6367204449456203128137264535339103
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan637
Feb677
Mar20413
Apr44924
May45628
Jun20324
Jul12822
Aug13722
Sep26424
Oct53528
Nov33918
Dec1039

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Yirga Ch’efē, 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 6 and lasts for 4.9 months, ending around April 3. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 65% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 4 and lasts for 7.1 months, ending around November 5. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 91% 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 17 · 68%Jul 26 · 7%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6238
Feb5941
Mar4555
Apr2278
May1684
Jun1882
Jul991
Aug1288
Sep2476
Oct1783
Nov4456
Dec6535

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 11, 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)
Jan11.76:466:27
Feb11.86:486:36
Mar12.06:386:36
Apr12.16:236:31
May12.36:156:32
Jun12.46:176:38
Jul12.36:236:43
Aug12.26:256:37
Sep12.06:216:23
Oct11.96:166:08
Nov11.76:216:04
Dec11.66:346:13

Sunny days

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

Yirga Ch’efē 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 13 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.8 months, from around Nov 6 to Apr 1. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 12 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is July, down near 0 sunny days — about 99% fewer than the December peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightDec 2213 daysJul 230 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan12Mixed
Feb9Mixed
Mar6Gloomy
Apr3Gloomy
May1Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov6Gloomy
Dec12Mixed

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 Yirga Ch’efē, how humid it feels changes noticeably over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 2.4 months, from around March 25 to June 6. The muggiest month is May, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 17% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around June 7 to October 7, and September 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecSep 15 · 100%May 7 · 78%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan85141
Feb81181
Mar63352
Apr216613
May38017
Jun17812
Jul37630
Aug37630
Sep28720
Oct13825
Nov44533
Dec75240

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 Yirga Ch’efē is steady company: average speeds sit near 6 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmFeb 6 · 6 km/hJul 18 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr5calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul5calm
Aug5calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov6calm
Dec6calm

Best time to visit Yirga Ch’efē

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early March, Yirga Ch’efē 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 Yirga Ch’efē for general outdoor tourist activities is from late November to mid March, with a peak score in the first week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 2 · 7.8

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
Jan7.6ideal
Feb7.1good
Mar6.2good
Apr4.5fair
May3.9fair
Jun4.2fair
Jul4.4fair
Aug4.5fair
Sep4.3fair
Oct3.9fair
Nov5.5fair
Dec7.3good

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 Yirga Ch’efē for hot-weather activities is from early December to late March, with a peak score in the third week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 19 · 6.7

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 Yirga Ch’efē, 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.

Yirga Ch’efē packs about the same all year — highs hold near 26°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, Yirga Ch’efē sees daytime highs around 26°C and nights near 13°C. Pack sun protection. Worth having: light clothes. About 7 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Yirga Ch’efē 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 Yirga Ch’efē peaks around March 15 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near November 22 at about 12 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 15UV 16Nov 22UV 12
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug14Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Yirga Ch’efē

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)
Jan86
Feb86.5
Mar8.56.5
Apr8.56.5
May86
Jun86
Jul86
Aug8.56.5
Sep86
Oct86.5
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Yirga Ch’efē 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 Yirga Ch’efē is worst in December — around 36 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 1.6× the cleanest month (August, 22 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorDec 1736 µg/m³Aug 1922 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan33Moderate
Feb32Moderate
Mar27Moderate
Apr25Moderate
May23Moderate
Jun28Moderate
Jul27Moderate
Aug22Moderate
Sep24Moderate
Oct27Moderate
Nov33Moderate
Dec36Poor
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Yirga Ch’efē 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. Yirga Ch’efē banks about 2,900 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)
Jan256
Feb261
Mar304
Apr268
May254
Jun218
Jul208
Aug217
Sep223
Oct236
Nov224
Dec232

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.

Yirga Ch’efē receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.1 and 6.4 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.9 months, from around Nov 1 to Apr 28. The brightest month is February, averaging about 6.3 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.1 kWh/m² — roughly 35% less than the February peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 266.4 kWhJul 204.1 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.0Intense
Feb6.3Intense
Mar6.2Intense
Apr5.7Bright
May5.1Bright
Jun4.5Bright
Jul4.1Bright
Aug4.6Bright
Sep5.3Bright
Oct5.1Bright
Nov5.5Bright
Dec5.7Bright

Where is Yirga Ch’efē?

Yirga Ch’efē sits at 6.2°N, 38.2°E, 1,831 m above sea level, in Ethiopia. The nearest listed city is Wenago, 18 km away.

Topography around Yirga Ch’efē

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Yirga Ch’efē has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 299 m around an average of 1,920 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,619 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,462 m.

The land around Yirga Ch’efē is covered by trees (92%) within 3 km, trees (73%) within 16 km, and trees (41%) and shrubs (27%) within 80 km.

3 km
299 m
16 km
1,619 m
80 km
2,462 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Wenago 18 km · Kele 21 km · Dīla 31 km · Ch’iko 49 km · Kercha 49 km · Wendo 54 km · Hagere Maryam 59 km · Yirga ‘Alem 69 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 Yirga Ch’efē (6.1667°, 38.2°, elevation 1,831 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).