Climate and average weather in Buchanan

In Buchanan, the weather is oppressive, hot, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around September.

Best: mid December to mid February

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Buchanan typically varies from 23°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 22°C or above 31°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while August is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Buchanan for warm-weather activities are from mid July to mid August and mid December to mid February.

Hottest
Mar
29°
Coldest
Aug
23°
Wettest
Sep
403 mm
Driest
Jan
76 mm
Rain / yr
2852 mm
314 wet days
Daylight
11.7–12.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
11 m
5.9°N
Clearest
Jan
54% cloud

Buchanan is human settlement in Grand Bassa County, Liberia.

Founded
1835

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

Buchanan 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 December to mid February.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Buchanan 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 24°C; the coolest is August, with an average low of 23°C and high of 27°C.

Days typically run about 5°C warmer than nights year-round.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2924
Feb2924
Mar2924
Apr2924
May2924
Jun2824
Jul2723
Aug2723
Sep2723
Oct2823
Nov2923
Dec2923

How hot and cold Buchanan 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, Buchanan feels like about 36°C (around April 23). About 216 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in April.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan33292324
Feb34292424
Mar35292424
Apr36292424
May34292424
Jun31282424
Jul27272323
Aug26272323
Sep29272323
Oct31282323
Nov33292323
Dec33292323

Average hourly temperature in Buchanan

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 August, near 23°C.

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

Buchanan 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
Jan29° / 24°7617.411.74.6
Feb29° / 24°10520.811.83.8
Mar29° / 24°16727.3123.2
Apr29° / 24°20727.612.13.0
May29° / 24°28430.112.32.9
Jun28° / 24°36229.312.33.3
Jul27° / 23°3002712.33.8
Aug27° / 23°39026.912.23.8
Sep27° / 23°40329.3123.3
Oct28° / 23°30530.511.93.2
Nov29° / 23°16626.911.73.3
Dec29° / 23°8821.311.74.2

Chance of rain

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

Buchanan gets about 2852 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 3.2 months, from around Aug 18 to Nov 23, peaking in September at about 99% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 5.

September is the wettest month by volume, with 403 mm over about 29 wet days; January is the driest, with 76 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetSep 29 · 99%Jan 5 · 52%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5717
Feb7421
Mar8827
Apr9228
May9730
Jun9729
Jul8727
Aug8727
Sep9829
Oct9831
Nov8927
Dec6921

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Buchanan collects about 2852 mm of rain across 314 wet days — roughly 238 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. September is the wettest month with 403 mm, while January is the driest at just 76 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 40% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec7610516720728436230039040330516688
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan7617
Feb10521
Mar16727
Apr20728
May28430
Jun36229
Jul30027
Aug39027
Sep40329
Oct30531
Nov16627
Dec8821

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Buchanan, 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 4.5 months, ending around March 23. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 59% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 24 and lasts for 7.5 months, ending around November 6. The cloudiest month is August, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 96% 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 29 · 62%Aug 23 · 3%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5941
Feb4852
Mar2872
Apr1585
May793
Jun793
Jul694
Aug496
Sep496
Oct1090
Nov2773
Dec5149

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. Close to the equator, Buchanan barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 18 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.76:596:40
Feb11.87:016:49
Mar12.06:516:49
Apr12.16:376:44
May12.36:286:44
Jun12.36:306:51
Jul12.36:366:55
Aug12.26:386:50
Sep12.06:346:35
Oct11.96:296:21
Nov11.76:346:17
Dec11.76:476:26

Sunny days

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

Buchanan averages about 2 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 11 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.3 months, from around Nov 30 to Mar 8. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 10 sunny days (mixed).

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

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedJan 611 daysMay 70 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb6Gloomy
Mar2Gloomy
Apr0Gloomy
May0Gloomy
Jun0Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug0Gloomy
Sep0Gloomy
Oct0Gloomy
Nov1Gloomy
Dec7Gloomy

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.

Buchanan 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 January, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 100% of the time. Even in January, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 0% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserableoppressivemuggy
Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan27721
Feb05248
Mar02674
Apr02080
May03961
Jun08712
Jul7930
Aug6940
Sep0982
Oct0919
Nov08317
Dec07920

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

The windier part of the year lasts 3.7 months, from around Jun 9 to Sep 28. The windiest month is August, averaging about 10 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Sep 29 to Jun 8, with December the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeAug 5 · 10 km/hDec 1 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb7calm
Mar7calm
Apr6calm
May6calm
Jun7calm
Jul9calm
Aug10calm
Sep8calm
Oct6calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Buchanan

In seasonPeak

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

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

Buchanan sees seasonal dust haze (February), heaviest in February.

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

Best time to visit Buchanan

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early February, Buchanan 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 times of year to visit Buchanan for general outdoor tourist activities run from mid July to mid August and again from mid December to mid February, with a peak score in the first week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 3 · 4.8

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
Jan4.5fair
Feb3.8fair
Mar3.2poor
Apr3.0poor
May2.9poor
Jun3.3poor
Jul3.8fair
Aug3.8fair
Sep3.3poor
Oct3.2poor
Nov3.3poor
Dec4.2fair

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 Buchanan for hot-weather activities is from mid December to mid February, with a peak score in the first week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 4 · 6.2

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 Buchanan, 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.

Buchanan packs about the same all year — highs hold near 29°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 March, Buchanan sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 24°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 27 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Buchanan

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

The sea offshore is warmest in May at about 29°C and coldest in August near 27°C.

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

26°28°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan28Tropical
Feb28Warm
Mar28Warm
Apr28Tropical
May29Tropical
Jun28Tropical
Jul27Warm
Aug27Warm
Sep27Warm
Oct28Warm
Nov28Tropical
Dec29Tropical

UV index (midday) in Buchanan 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 Buchanan peaks around March 16 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 15 at about 8 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highMar 16UV 13Dec 15UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan10Extreme
Feb12Extreme
Mar13Extreme
Apr12Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul10Very high
Aug12Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct12Extreme
Nov10Very high
Dec8Very high

Average hourly UV index in Buchanan

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)
Jan7.55
Feb7.56
Mar86
Apr86
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55.5
Aug86
Sep86
Oct7.55.5
Nov75
Dec6.54

Air quality in Buchanan 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 Buchanan is worst in April — around 58 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 7.1× the cleanest month (September, 8 µg/m³).

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecPoorUnhealthyModerateGoodModerateApr 957 µg/m³Sep 138 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan46Poor
Feb53Poor
Mar56Unhealthy
Apr58Unhealthy
May22Moderate
Jun14Moderate
Jul12Moderate
Aug9Good
Sep8Good
Oct11Good
Nov17Moderate
Dec35Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Buchanan 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. Buchanan banks about 5,838 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around April.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan506
Feb466
Mar522
Apr507
May513
Jun470
Jul464
Aug459
Sep457
Oct489
Nov484
Dec502

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.

Buchanan receives about 4.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.4 and 4.9 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 7.1 months, from around Oct 19 to May 22. The brightest month is April, averaging about 4.8 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is August, down near 3.5 kWh/m² — roughly 29% less than the April peak.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightApr 14.9 kWhAug 73.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.8Bright
Feb4.8Bright
Mar4.9Bright
Apr4.8Bright
May4.5Bright
Jun3.8Moderate
Jul3.6Moderate
Aug3.4Moderate
Sep3.8Moderate
Oct4.3Bright
Nov4.5Bright
Dec4.4Bright

Where is Buchanan?

Buchanan sits at 5.9°N, 10.0°W, 11 m above sea level, in Liberia. The nearest listed city is Harbel, 53 km away.

HarbelKakataMonroviaTubmanburgGbarngaGreenvilleSaclepeaGanta

Topography around Buchanan

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Buchanan has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 18 m around an average of 4 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 92 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 610 m.

The land around Buchanan is covered by water (42%) and grassland (27%) within 3 km, water (50%) and trees (38%) within 16 km, and trees (64%) and water (33%) within 80 km.

3 km
18 m
16 km
92 m
80 km
610 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfaceswatermangroves
Nearby: Harbel 53 km · Kakata 80 km · Monrovia 95 km · Tubmanburg 140 km · Gbarnga 140 km · Greenville 148 km · Saclepea 180 km · Ganta 191 km

Liberia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type A / B
120 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 0% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$915
2025
Happiness
4.3 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
3.1
per 100k, 2012
Road deaths
38.9
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
Religion
Christian 85%Muslim 12%none 3%Traditional 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 Buchanan (5.8769°, -10.0496°, elevation 11 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. 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).