Climate and average weather in Liwonde

In Liwonde, the summers are hot, showery, and mostly clear and the winters are warm and mostly clear.

Best: late April to early September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Liwonde typically varies from 14°C to 33°C, and is rarely below 12°C or above 37°C. November is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Liwonde for warm-weather activities is from late April to early September.

Hottest
Nov
33°
Coldest
Jul
14°
Wettest
Jan
279 mm
Driest
Aug
1 mm
Rain / yr
917 mm
105 wet days
Daylight
11.1–12.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
499 m
15.1°S
Clearest
Sep
27% cloud

Liwonde is city in Malawi.

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

Liwonde 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 April to early September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 2.5 months, from September 23 to December 8, with daily high temperatures above 31°C. The hottest month of the year in Liwonde is November, with an average high of 33°C and low of 23°C.

The cool season lasts 2.2 months, from June 1 to August 5, with daily high temperatures below 26°C. The coldest month of the year in Liwonde is July, with an average low of 14°C and high of 25°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 12°C) in September.

10°15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2922
Feb2922
Mar2921
Apr2919
May2717
Jun2515
Jul2514
Aug2716
Sep3018
Oct3221
Nov3323
Dec3022

How hot and cold Liwonde 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, Liwonde feels like about 34°C (around November 18). About 91 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in November.

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan32292222
Feb32292222
Mar31292121
Apr29291919
May27271717
Jun25251515
Jul25251414
Aug27271616
Sep30301818
Oct32322121
Nov33332323
Dec33302222

Average hourly temperature in Liwonde

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 November afternoons, near 33°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 14°C.

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

Liwonde 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° / 22°27925.812.83.4
Feb29° / 22°19219.612.53.9
Mar29° / 21°13717.412.14.5
Apr29° / 19°285.511.76.5
May27° / 17°40.711.38.2
Jun25° / 15°20.411.18.7
Jul25° / 14°20.311.28.7
Aug27° / 16°10.411.58.3
Sep30° / 18°20.311.96.4
Oct32° / 21°142.412.34.7
Nov33° / 23°689.412.73.7
Dec30° / 22°18822.612.93.3

Chance of rain

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

Liwonde gets about 917 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 4.7 months, from around Nov 14 to Apr 6, peaking in January at about 83% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Sep 1.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 279 mm over about 26 wet days; August is the driest, with 1 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 21 · 83%Sep 1 · 1%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan8226
Feb7120
Mar5617
Apr196
May31
Jun20
Jul10
Aug10
Sep10
Oct82
Nov329
Dec7323

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Liwonde collects about 917 mm of rain across 105 wet days — roughly 76 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 279 mm, while August is the driest at just 1 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 72% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec27919213728422121468188
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan27926
Feb19220
Mar13717
Apr286
May41
Jun20
Jul20
Aug10
Sep20
Oct142
Nov689
Dec18823

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Liwonde, 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 April 7 and lasts for 7.4 months, ending around November 18. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 88% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 19 and lasts for 4.6 months, ending around April 6. The cloudiest month is January, 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecSep 24 · 89%Jan 21 · 16%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan1981
Feb2872
Mar4555
Apr7030
May7921
Jun7822
Jul7426
Aug8416
Sep8812
Oct8614
Nov6733
Dec3268

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 January 1, brings about 12 h 54 min of light; the shortest, around June 6, only 11 h 06 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.85:246:12
Feb12.55:396:09
Mar12.15:465:52
Apr11.75:495:29
May11.35:565:14
Jun11.16:065:13
Jul11.26:095:20
Aug11.55:585:28
Sep11.95:365:31
Oct12.35:145:34
Nov12.75:035:46
Dec12.95:096:02

Sunny days

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

Liwonde 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 7.0 months, from around Apr 18 to Nov 17. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 22 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is January, down near 2 sunny days — about 91% fewer than the September peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantSep 1722 daysJan 221 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan2Gloomy
Feb3Gloomy
Mar6Gloomy
Apr12Mixed
May18Bright
Jun17Bright
Jul16Bright
Aug20Bright
Sep22Bright
Oct20Bright
Nov13Mixed
Dec5Gloomy

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around November 1 to May 7. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 100% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around May 8 to October 31, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 99% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 17 · 100%Jan 1 · 0%oppressivecomfortablemuggyhumiddryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan0012574
Feb0033166
Mar0084547
Apr01236458
May10453780
Jun39501000
Jul5840100
Aug5047300
Sep38521000
Oct18453160
Nov52232356
Dec0384148

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

The windier part of the year lasts 5.3 months, from around Jun 25 to Dec 1. The windiest month is October, averaging about 8 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Dec 2 to Jun 24, with January the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeOct 6 · 8 km/hJan 29 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar6calm
Apr6calm
May6calm
Jun7calm
Jul7calm
Aug7calm
Sep8calm
Oct8calm
Nov8calm
Dec6calm

Hazard calendar for Liwonde

In seasonPeak

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

Liwonde's monsoon runs December–March, when most of the year's rain falls.

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

Best time to visit Liwonde

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late August, Liwonde 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 Liwonde for general outdoor tourist activities is from late April to early September, with a peak score in the last week of June.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 27 · 8.8

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
Jan3.4poor
Feb3.8fair
Mar4.5fair
Apr6.5good
May8.2ideal
Jun8.7ideal
Jul8.7ideal
Aug8.2ideal
Sep6.4good
Oct4.7fair
Nov3.7fair
Dec3.3poor

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 Liwonde for hot-weather activities is from early April to late October, with a peak score in the first week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 4 · 9.1

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 Liwonde, 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 November (highs near 33°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 25°C), pack light clothes.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In November, Liwonde sees daytime highs around 33°C and nights near 23°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 9 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Liwonde 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 Liwonde peaks around January 17 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 20 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 highExtremeJan 17UV 15Jun 20UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr12Extreme
May9Very high
Jun8Very high
Jul8Very high
Aug10Very high
Sep11Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec14Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Liwonde

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 January the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 9 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)
Jan97
Feb8.56.5
Mar8.56.5
Apr7.55.5
May74.5
Jun6.53.5
Jul6.54
Aug75
Sep7.55.5
Oct86
Nov8.56.5
Dec8.57

Air quality in Liwonde 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 Liwonde is worst in August — around 46 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 3.3× the cleanest month (December, 14 µg/m³).

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorModerateAug 1746 µg/m³Dec 2014 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan15Moderate
Feb19Moderate
Mar22Moderate
Apr25Moderate
May32Moderate
Jun36Poor
Jul41Poor
Aug46Poor
Sep42Poor
Oct28Moderate
Nov17Moderate
Dec14Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Liwonde 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. Liwonde banks about 5,107 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around November.

02,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan476
Feb428
Mar469
Apr417
May373
Jun303
Jul298
Aug355
Sep428
Oct520
Nov532
Dec507

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.

Liwonde receives about 5.6 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.3 and 6.9 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.6 months, from around Aug 24 to Jan 9. The brightest month is November, averaging about 6.7 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.4 kWh/m² — roughly 34% less than the November peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseNov 56.9 kWhJul 54.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.5Bright
Feb5.7Bright
Mar5.7Bright
Apr5.2Bright
May4.9Bright
Jun4.4Bright
Jul4.4Bright
Aug5.3Bright
Sep6.3Intense
Oct6.7Intense
Nov6.7Intense
Dec6.0Intense

Where is Liwonde?

Liwonde sits at 15.1°S, 35.2°E, 499 m above sea level, in Malawi. The nearest listed city is Balaka, 31 km away.

MangochiNtcheuBlantyreMandimbaMwanzaUlongué

Topography around Liwonde

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Liwonde has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 63 m around an average of 488 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 808 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,804 m.

The land around Liwonde is covered by cropland (33%) and grassland (20%) within 3 km, shrubs (32%), cropland (32%) and grassland (23%) within 16 km, and cropland (47%) within 80 km.

3 km
63 m
16 km
808 m
80 km
1,804 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetland
Nearby: Balaka 31 km · Zomba 37 km · Mangochi 66 km · Ntcheu 69 km · Blantyre 83 km · Mandimba 92 km · Mwanza 96 km · Ulongué 100 km

Malawi travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type G
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 53% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$672
2025
Happiness
3.3 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
18%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
1.8
per 100k, 2012
Road deaths
33.4
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Low
EF EPI 465
Religion
Protestant 34%other Christian 27%Roman Catholic 17%Muslim 14%

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 Liwonde (-15.0666°, 35.2254°, elevation 499 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).