Climate and average weather in Dessalines

In Dessalines, the weather is muggy, hot, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around May.

Best: mid November to late March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Dessalines typically varies from 19°C to 32°C, and is rarely below 17°C or above 34°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Dessalines for warm-weather activities is from mid November to late March.

Hottest
Jul
32°
Coldest
Jan
19°
Wettest
May
176 mm
Driest
Jan
10 mm
Rain / yr
1011 mm
154 wet days
Daylight
10.8–13.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
26 m
19.3°N
Clearest
Jan
32% cloud

Dessalines is human settlement in Haiti.

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

Dessalines 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 November to late March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Dessalines stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is July, with an average high of 32°C and low of 23°C; the coolest is January, with an average low of 19°C and high of 30°C.

Days typically run about 9°C warmer than nights year-round.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3019
Feb3019
Mar3020
Apr3121
May3122
Jun3223
Jul3223
Aug3223
Sep3123
Oct3022
Nov3021
Dec3019

How hot and cold Dessalines really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Dessalines feels like about 36°C (around August 10). About 213 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in August.

15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan30301919
Feb31301919
Mar31302020
Apr32312121
May33312222
Jun35322323
Jul36322323
Aug36322323
Sep35312323
Oct34302222
Nov32302121
Dec31301919

Average hourly temperature in Dessalines

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 July afternoons, near 32°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near 19°C.

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

Dessalines 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
Jan30° / 19°102.5116.5
Feb30° / 19°112.511.36.1
Mar30° / 20°245.711.95.5
Apr31° / 21°6611.612.44.6
May31° / 22°17620.412.93.6
Jun32° / 23°13719.813.13.2
Jul32° / 23°10417.6133.2
Aug32° / 23°12120.212.73.0
Sep31° / 23°15822.412.13.1
Oct30° / 22°13719.411.63.8
Nov30° / 21°568.911.15.4
Dec30° / 19°122.910.96.3

Chance of rain

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

Dessalines gets about 1011 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 6.5 months, from around Apr 20 to Nov 3, peaking in September at about 75% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 5.

May is the wettest month by volume, with 176 mm over about 20 wet days; January is the driest, with 10 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetSep 21 · 75%Jan 5 · 8%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan83
Feb93
Mar186
Apr3912
May6520
Jun6620
Jul5718
Aug6520
Sep7422
Oct6219
Nov309
Dec103

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Dessalines collects about 1011 mm of rain across 154 wet days — roughly 84 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. May is the wettest month with 176 mm, while January is the driest at just 10 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 47% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec101124661761371041211581375612
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan103
Feb113
Mar246
Apr6612
May17620
Jun13720
Jul10418
Aug12120
Sep15822
Oct13719
Nov569
Dec123

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Dessalines, 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 7 and lasts for 5.9 months, ending around May 5. The clearest month is February, 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 6 and lasts for 6.1 months, ending around November 6. The cloudiest month is September, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 57% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 19 · 89%May 31 · 37%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan8614
Feb8812
Mar8317
Apr7525
May5050
Jun4555
Jul5446
Aug4753
Sep4357
Oct5149
Nov6931
Dec8218

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 15, brings about 13 h 12 min of light; the shortest, around December 15, only 10 h 48 min — a swing of roughly 2 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.06:315:28
Feb11.36:245:45
Mar11.96:045:56
Apr12.45:376:03
May12.95:196:14
Jun13.15:166:25
Jul13.05:246:27
Aug12.75:346:14
Sep12.15:415:48
Oct11.65:495:22
Nov11.16:035:08
Dec10.96:215:12

Sunny days

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

Dessalines averages about 12 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 3 and 21 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.5 months, from around Nov 3 to Apr 19. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 21 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is May, down near 7 sunny days — about 66% fewer than the January peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJan 1021 daysMay 313 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan21Bright
Feb19Bright
Mar17Bright
Apr13Mixed
May7Gloomy
Jun6Gloomy
Jul9Mixed
Aug6Gloomy
Sep5Gloomy
Oct9Mixed
Nov14Mixed
Dec21Bright

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.

Dessalines is humid all year round — on a typical day the air feels at least humid, and there is no real dry season to wait for.

The stickiest month is May, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 94% of the time. Even in March, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 12% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMar 7 · 16%May 18 · 0%muggyoppressivehumidcomfortablecomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan18523910
Feb111543400
Mar112434410
Apr132362110
May00643510
Jun00018811
Jul00127720
Aug00019801
Sep00010891
Oct00119800
Nov01954360
Dec04306140

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 Dessalines is typically calm, near 7 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around Nov 5 to Apr 29. The windiest month is March, averaging about 9 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 30 to Nov 4, with June the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeMar 9 · 9 km/hJun 7 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan9calm
Feb9calm
Mar9calm
Apr8calm
May6calm
Jun5calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov8calm
Dec8calm

Hazard calendar for Dessalines

In seasonPeak

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

Dessalines sits in the Atlantic hurricane belt; the season peaks August–October.

Dessalines's rainy season runs May–October, when most of the year's rain falls.

Atlantic hurricane
Rainy season
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Dessalines

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 5 · 6.5

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
Jan6.5good
Feb6.1good
Mar5.5good
Apr4.6fair
May3.6fair
Jun3.2poor
Jul3.2poor
Aug3.0poor
Sep3.1poor
Oct3.8fair
Nov5.4fair
Dec6.3good

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 Dessalines for hot-weather activities is from mid November to mid April, with a peak score in the second week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 12 · 8.6

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 Dessalines, 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.

Dessalines packs about the same all year — highs hold near 32°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Dessalines sees daytime highs around 32°C and nights near 23°C. Pack light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. About 18 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Dessalines

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea at the nearest coast (about 40 km away) is warmest in August at about 30°C and coldest in February near 27°C.

The water stays above 20°C all year — warm enough for a swim any month.

26°28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan28Warm
Feb27Warm
Mar27Warm
Apr28Warm
May29Tropical
Jun29Tropical
Jul30Tropical
Aug30Tropical
Sep30Tropical
Oct30Tropical
Nov29Tropical
Dec28Tropical

UV index (midday) in Dessalines 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 Dessalines peaks around March 21 at about 12 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 15 at about 7 (high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highExtremeVery highHighMar 21UV 12Dec 15UV 7
UV index (midday)Level
Jan8Very high
Feb10Very high
Mar12Extreme
Apr12Extreme
May11Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep11Extreme
Oct10Very high
Nov7Very high
Dec7High

Average hourly UV index in Dessalines

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 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)
Jan6.53.5
Feb75
Mar86
Apr86
May8.56
Jun8.56
Jul8.56
Aug86
Sep85.5
Oct75
Nov63
Dec62.5

Air quality in Dessalines 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 Dessalines is worst in June — around 29 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.4× the cleanest month (March, 12 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateModerateJun 2128 µg/m³Mar 1512 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan14Moderate
Feb12Moderate
Mar12Good
Apr13Moderate
May19Moderate
Jun29Moderate
Jul27Moderate
Aug24Moderate
Sep19Moderate
Oct20Moderate
Nov17Moderate
Dec15Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Dessalines 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. Dessalines banks about 5,823 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan440
Feb409
Mar470
Apr475
May507
Jun514
Jul548
Aug548
Sep507
Oct500
Nov457
Dec450

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.

Dessalines receives about 5.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.6 and 6.9 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.8 months, from around Mar 1 to Sep 24. The brightest month is July, averaging about 6.8 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 4.6 kWh/m² — roughly 32% less than the July peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJul 26.9 kWhDec 204.6 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.8Bright
Feb5.5Bright
Mar6.1Intense
Apr6.5Intense
May6.4Intense
Jun6.7Intense
Jul6.8Intense
Aug6.5Intense
Sep6.0Intense
Oct5.3Bright
Nov4.7Bright
Dec4.6Bright

Where is Dessalines?

Dessalines sits at 19.3°N, 72.5°W, 26 m above sea level, in Haiti. The nearest listed city is Saint-Michel de l'Atalaye, 23 km away.

Saint-Michel de l'AtalayeVerrettesSaint-MarcGonaïvesDésarmesSaint-RaphaëlLenbeHinche

Topography around Dessalines

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Dessalines has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 580 m around an average of 153 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,461 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,768 m.

The land around Dessalines is covered by cropland (33%), grassland (30%) and trees (20%) within 3 km, grassland (45%) and cropland (28%) within 16 km, and grassland (40%) and water (34%) within 80 km.

3 km
580 m
16 km
1,461 m
80 km
1,768 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetlandmangroves
Nearby: Saint-Michel de l'Atalaye 23 km · Verrettes 24 km · Saint-Marc 26 km · Gonaïves 28 km · Désarmes 33 km · Saint-Raphaël 39 km · Lenbe 51 km · Hinche 55 km

Haiti travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 4
Do Not Travel
Power plugs
Type A / B
110 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 86% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$2,694
2025
Happiness
3.6 / 10
World Happiness, 2020
Homicide rate
41.2
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
18.8
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 444
Religion
Catholic 55%Protestant 29%none 10%other 5%

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 Dessalines (19.2618°, -72.5161°, elevation 26 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. Tropical-cyclone seasons are the published climatological basin seasons (NOAA National Hurricane Center / regional warning centres). Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. 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).