Climate and average weather in Nara

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

Best: early January to early February

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Nara typically varies from 16°C to 41°C, and is rarely below 13°C or above 43°C. May is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

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

Hottest
May
41°
Coldest
Jan
16°
Wettest
Aug
138 mm
Driest
Mar
0 mm
Rain / yr
300 mm
43 wet days
Daylight
11.1–12.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
266 m
15.2°N
Clearest
Mar
29% cloud

Nara is human settlement in Mali.

Density
18/km²
people per km²

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

Nara 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 early February.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.1 months, from March 26 to June 28, with daily high temperatures above 38°C. The hottest month of the year in Nara is May, with an average high of 41°C and low of 28°C.

The cool season lasts 1.9 months, from December 9 to February 3, with daily high temperatures below 32°C. The coldest month of the year in Nara is January, with an average low of 16°C and high of 31°C.

Days typically run about 13°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 15°C) in March.

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3116
Feb3419
Mar3722
Apr4026
May4128
Jun4028
Jul3626
Aug3325
Sep3525
Oct3824
Nov3621
Dec3217

How hot and cold Nara 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, Nara feels like about 41°C (around June 12). About 313 days a year carry some heat stress, and 124 of them tip into dangerous heat (feels-like above 39°C), peaking in June.

15°20°25°30°35°40°45°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan31311616
Feb34341919
Mar37372222
Apr40402626
May41412828
Jun41402828
Jul40362626
Aug38332525
Sep39352525
Oct38382424
Nov35362121
Dec32321717

Average hourly temperature in Nara

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 May afternoons, near 41°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near 16°C.

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

Nara 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
Jan31° / 16°10.211.26.0
Feb34° / 19°10.111.54.2
Mar37° / 22°0011.91.9
Apr40° / 26°20.512.30.1
May41° / 28°61.712.70.0
Jun40° / 28°144.112.90.2
Jul36° / 26°7111.112.82.1
Aug33° / 25°13814.112.53.2
Sep35° / 25°558.412.12.7
Oct38° / 24°132.611.71.5
Nov36° / 21°10.111.32.9
Dec32° / 17°00.111.15.2

Chance of rain

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

Nara gets about 300 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is mostly dry, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 3.9 months, from around Jun 14 to Oct 10, peaking in August at about 48% 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 138 mm over about 14 wet days; March is the driest, with 0 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetAug 14 · 48%Jan 1 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan00
Feb00
Mar00
Apr21
May62
Jun144
Jul3511
Aug4514
Sep288
Oct93
Nov00
Dec00

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Nara collects about 300 mm of rain across 43 wet days — roughly 25 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. August is the wettest month with 138 mm, while March is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 88% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec110261471138551310
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan10
Feb10
Mar00
Apr21
May62
Jun144
Jul7111
Aug13814
Sep558
Oct133
Nov10
Dec00

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Nara, 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 January 15 and lasts for 5.8 months, ending around July 11. The clearest month is March, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 81% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around July 12 and lasts for 2.5 months, ending around September 25. The cloudiest month is August, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 50% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMar 4 · 81%Aug 13 · 49%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6931
Feb7624
Mar8119
Apr7723
May7030
Jun7624
Jul6535
Aug5050
Sep6139
Oct6931
Nov6634
Dec6436

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 5, brings about 12 h 54 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, 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)
Jan11.27:036:14
Feb11.56:596:29
Mar11.96:426:36
Apr12.36:196:40
May12.76:046:46
Jun12.96:036:56
Jul12.86:106:59
Aug12.56:186:49
Sep12.16:216:26
Oct11.76:256:04
Nov11.36:365:53
Dec11.16:525:58

Sunny days

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

Nara averages about 16 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 9 and 21 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.7 months, from around Jan 12 to Jul 3. The sunniest month is March, with roughly 20 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is August, down near 9 sunny days — about 56% fewer than the March peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantMar 221 daysAug 229 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan17Bright
Feb18Bright
Mar21Bright
Apr19Bright
May17Bright
Jun17Bright
Jul14Mixed
Aug9Mixed
Sep13Mixed
Oct16Bright
Nov16Bright
Dec16Bright

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 4.7 months, from around May 27 to October 17. The muggiest month is August, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 100% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around October 18 to May 26, and January 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 1 · 100%Aug 3 · 0%comfortablehumiddrymuggyoppressivecomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan9910000
Feb9910000
Mar9811000
Apr8964100
May561817810
Jun1615313260
Jul11732581
Aug0003906
Sep22618703
Oct44131617100
Nov9532100
Dec9910000

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 Nara is typically light breeze, near 12 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.0 months, from around Nov 13 to Apr 13. The windiest month is February, averaging about 14 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jul 29 to Nov 12, with October the calmest month at about 10 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeFeb 12 · 14 km/hOct 6 · 10 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan14light breeze
Feb14light breeze
Mar13light breeze
Apr12light breeze
May11calm
Jun12light breeze
Jul13light breeze
Aug11calm
Sep10calm
Oct10calm
Nov12light breeze
Dec13light breeze

Hazard calendar for Nara

In seasonPeak

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

Nara sees dust haze year-round, heaviest in June.

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

Best time to visit Nara

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 10 · 6.2

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
Jan6.0good
Feb4.2fair
Mar1.9poor
Apr0.1poor
May0.0poor
Jun0.3poor
Jul2.1poor
Aug3.2poor
Sep2.7poor
Oct1.6poor
Nov2.9poor
Dec5.2fair

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 Nara for hot-weather activities is from late November to late February, with a peak score in the second week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 11 · 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 Nara, 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 May (highs near 41°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 31°C), pack light clothes and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In May, Nara sees daytime highs around 41°C and nights near 28°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Nara 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 Nara peaks around August 18 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 17 at about 7 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highExtremeVery highAug 18UV 13Dec 17UV 7
UV index (midday)Level
Jan8Very high
Feb10Extreme
Mar13Extreme
Apr12Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun10Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct10Extreme
Nov9Very high
Dec7High

Average hourly UV index in Nara

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 August 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)
Jan6.54
Feb7.55
Mar86
Apr86
May86
Jun85.5
Jul86
Aug8.56.5
Sep86
Oct7.55
Nov74.5
Dec63

Air quality in Nara 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 Nara is worst in February — around 78 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 4.6× the cleanest month (August, 17 µg/m³).

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyPoorModeratePoorUnhealthyFeb 1377 µg/m³Aug 2217 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan73Unhealthy
Feb78Unhealthy
Mar71Unhealthy
Apr58Unhealthy
May53Poor
Jun54Poor
Jul30Moderate
Aug17Moderate
Sep19Moderate
Oct45Poor
Nov47Poor
Dec66Unhealthy
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Nara 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. Nara banks about 7,094 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around May.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan413
Feb451
Mar608
Apr688
May761
Jun720
Jul647
Aug581
Sep594
Oct646
Nov540
Dec447

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.

Nara receives about 6.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — intense — with a clear seasonal swing between 5.3 and 7.2 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.0 months, from around Feb 20 to Jul 20. The brightest month is April, averaging about 7.2 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 5.3 kWh/m² — roughly 26% less than the April peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 147.2 kWhDec 205.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.4Bright
Feb6.1Intense
Mar6.9Intense
Apr7.2Intense
May7.0Intense
Jun6.9Intense
Jul6.4Intense
Aug6.0Bright
Sep6.3Intense
Oct6.1Intense
Nov5.8Bright
Dec5.3Bright

Where is Nara?

Nara sits at 15.2°N, 7.3°W, 266 m above sea level, in Mali. The nearest listed city is Bougadoum, 78 km away.

TembedghaNémaNionoMberaSiribala CoroBanambaToubakoura

Topography around Nara

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Nara has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 23 m around an average of 263 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 48 m; within 80 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 129 m.

The land around Nara is covered by grassland (80%) within 3 km, grassland (87%) within 16 km, and grassland (89%) within 80 km.

3 km
23 m
16 km
48 m
80 km
129 m
shrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrain
Nearby: Bougadoum 78 km · Tembedgha 152 km · Néma 161 km · Niono 173 km · Mbera 178 km · Siribala Coro 179 km · Banamba 181 km · Toubakoura 190 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 Nara (15.1693°, -7.2899°, elevation 266 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).