Climate and average weather in Koulikoro

In Koulikoro, the summers are sweltering, dry, and mostly clear and the winters are hot and mostly cloudy.

Best: early January to late January

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Koulikoro typically varies from 18°C to 39°C, and is rarely below 15°C or above 41°C. April is the hottest month of the year, while August is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Apr
39°
Coldest
Aug
23°
Wettest
Aug
263 mm
Driest
Dec
0 mm
Rain / yr
781 mm
97 wet days
Daylight
11.2–12.8 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
320 m
12.9°N
Clearest
Feb
29% cloud

Koulikoro is town in Mali.

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

Koulikoro 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 January to late January.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 2.9 months, from March 5 to May 30, with daily high temperatures above 37°C. The hottest month of the year in Koulikoro is April, with an average high of 39°C and low of 27°C.

The cool season lasts 2.6 months, from July 9 to September 26, with daily high temperatures below 32°C. The coldest month of the year in Koulikoro is August, with an average low of 23°C and high of 30°C.

Days typically run about 11°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 14°C) in December.

15°20°25°30°35°40°45°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3218
Feb3521
Mar3824
Apr3927
May3827
Jun3525
Jul3124
Aug3023
Sep3123
Oct3423
Nov3520
Dec3318

How hot and cold Koulikoro 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, Koulikoro feels like about 41°C (around May 18). About 343 days a year carry some heat stress, and 80 of them tip into dangerous heat (feels-like above 39°C), peaking in May.

15°20°25°30°35°40°45°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan32321818
Feb35352121
Mar38382424
Apr39392727
May41382727
Jun39352525
Jul35312324
Aug34302323
Sep35312323
Oct37342323
Nov35352020
Dec33331818

Average hourly temperature in Koulikoro

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 April afternoons, near 39°C, and coldest before dawn in August, near 23°C.

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

Koulikoro 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
Jan32° / 18°10.111.35.2
Feb35° / 21°00.111.63.3
Mar38° / 24°20.511.91.4
Apr39° / 27°62.412.30.5
May38° / 27°297.212.61.0
Jun35° / 25°7513.212.72.3
Jul31° / 24°19721.812.73.2
Aug30° / 23°26324.212.43.3
Sep31° / 23°16419.312.13.5
Oct34° / 23°427.911.73.4
Nov35° / 20°20.311.43.4
Dec33° / 18°0011.34.8

Chance of rain

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

Koulikoro gets about 781 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 4.9 months, from around May 20 to Oct 15, peaking in August at about 80% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 1.

August is the wettest month by volume, with 263 mm over about 24 wet days; December is the driest, with 0 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetAug 10 · 80%Jan 1 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan00
Feb00
Mar21
Apr82
May237
Jun4413
Jul7022
Aug7824
Sep6319
Oct268
Nov20
Dec00

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Koulikoro collects about 781 mm of rain across 97 wet days — roughly 65 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. August is the wettest month with 263 mm, while December is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 80% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec102629751972631644220
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan10
Feb00
Mar21
Apr62
May297
Jun7513
Jul19722
Aug26324
Sep16419
Oct428
Nov20
Dec00

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Koulikoro, 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 15 and lasts for 6.3 months, ending around April 23. The clearest month is February, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 80% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around June 25 and lasts for 3.7 months, ending around October 14. The cloudiest month is August, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 77% 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 27 · 82%Aug 18 · 21%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7624
Feb8020
Mar7723
Apr6535
May5347
Jun5743
Jul3862
Aug2377
Sep4258
Oct6040
Nov7030
Dec7426

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 12 h 48 min of light; the shortest, around December 15, only 11 h 12 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.37:006:19
Feb11.66:586:32
Mar11.96:436:37
Apr12.36:226:39
May12.66:096:44
Jun12.76:086:53
Jul12.76:156:57
Aug12.46:216:47
Sep12.16:226:27
Oct11.76:246:07
Nov11.46:345:57
Dec11.36:496:04

Sunny days

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

Koulikoro averages about 13 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 2 and 21 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.0 months, from around Oct 22 to Apr 22. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 20 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is August, down near 2 sunny days — about 90% fewer than the February peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantFeb 2221 daysAug 162 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan19Bright
Feb19Bright
Mar19Bright
Apr14Mixed
May11Mixed
Jun11Mixed
Jul5Gloomy
Aug2Gloomy
Sep7Gloomy
Oct13Mixed
Nov16Bright
Dec18Bright

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 6.4 months, from around April 24 to November 3. The muggiest month is June, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 99% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around November 4 to April 23, and December 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecDec 20 · 100%Jun 17 · 0%miserablecomfortabledryoppressivemuggyhumidcomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan9910000
Feb9721000
Mar8586100
Apr4316201920
May761746240
Jun00221742
Jul0001945
Aug0000937
Sep00008812
Oct441018605
Nov631312840
Dec9730000

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 Koulikoro is typically calm, near 9 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 7.3 months, from around Nov 19 to Jun 28. The windiest month is February, averaging about 12 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jun 29 to Nov 18, with September the calmest month at about 7 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeFeb 7 · 12 km/hSep 19 · 7 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan11calm
Feb12calm
Mar11calm
Apr10calm
May10calm
Jun10calm
Jul9calm
Aug8calm
Sep7calm
Oct7calm
Nov9calm
Dec11calm

Hazard calendar for Koulikoro

In seasonPeak

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

Koulikoro's monsoon runs July–September, when most of the year's rain falls.

Koulikoro sees seasonal dust haze (February–July), heaviest in April.

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

Best time to visit Koulikoro

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late January, Koulikoro 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 Koulikoro for general outdoor tourist activities is from early December to early February, with a peak score in the first week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 5 · 5.4

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
Jan5.1fair
Feb3.3poor
Mar1.5poor
Apr0.5poor
May1.0poor
Jun2.3poor
Jul3.2poor
Aug3.3poor
Sep3.5fair
Oct3.5poor
Nov3.5poor
Dec4.8fair

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 5 · 8.4

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 Koulikoro, 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 April (highs near 39°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around August (highs near 30°C), pack light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In April, Koulikoro sees daytime highs around 39°C and nights near 27°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Koulikoro 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 Koulikoro peaks around March 17 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 19 at about 8 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highExtremeVery highMar 17UV 13Dec 19UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan8Very high
Feb11Extreme
Mar14Extreme
Apr11Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct11Extreme
Nov9Very high
Dec8Very high

Average hourly UV index in Koulikoro

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)
Jan6.54
Feb7.55.5
Mar86
Apr86
May86
Jun86
Jul86
Aug86.5
Sep86
Oct7.55.5
Nov74.5
Dec6.53.5

Air quality in Koulikoro 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 Koulikoro is worst in February — around 64 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 4.0× the cleanest month (August, 16 µg/m³).

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyPoorModeratePoorFeb 2164 µg/m³Aug 1517 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan52Poor
Feb64Unhealthy
Mar63Unhealthy
Apr53Poor
May35Moderate
Jun30Moderate
Jul21Moderate
Aug16Moderate
Sep23Moderate
Oct35Poor
Nov38Poor
Dec46Poor
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Koulikoro 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. Koulikoro banks about 6,720 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)
Jan468
Feb499
Mar650
Apr690
May700
Jun604
Jul535
Aug507
Sep505
Oct562
Nov523
Dec477

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.

Koulikoro receives about 6.0 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.9 and 6.9 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.8 months, from around Feb 4 to Jun 30. The brightest month is March, averaging about 6.8 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is August, down near 4.9 kWh/m² — roughly 27% less than the March peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 306.9 kWhAug 144.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.7Bright
Feb6.2Intense
Mar6.8Intense
Apr6.8Intense
May6.6Intense
Jun6.4Intense
Jul5.4Bright
Aug4.9Bright
Sep5.6Bright
Oct5.9Bright
Nov5.8Bright
Dec5.5Bright

Where is Koulikoro?

Koulikoro sits at 12.9°N, 7.6°W, 320 m above sea level, in Mali. The nearest listed city is Moribabougou, 38 km away.

Topography around Koulikoro

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Koulikoro has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 97 m around an average of 317 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 225 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 324 m.

The land around Koulikoro is covered by grassland (31%) and water (21%) within 3 km, shrubs (48%) and grassland (29%) within 16 km, and shrubs (41%), cropland (28%) and grassland (26%) within 80 km.

3 km
97 m
16 km
225 m
80 km
324 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Moribabougou 38 km · Sangarébougou 41 km · Dialakorodji 47 km · Sirakoro Méguétana 51 km · Bamako 53 km · Kati 57 km · Kalaban Koro 60 km · Kabala 64 km

Mali travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 4
Do Not Travel
Power plugs
Type C / E
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 34% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$1,193
2025
Happiness
4.6 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Road deaths
22.7
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 408
Religion
Muslim 94%Christian 3%none 3%animist 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 Koulikoro (12.8627°, -7.5598°, elevation 320 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).