Climate and average weather in Dondo

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

Best: late April to mid September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Dondo typically varies from 16°C to 32°C, and is rarely below 13°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 Dondo for warm-weather activities is from late April to mid September.

Hottest
Nov
32°
Coldest
Jul
16°
Wettest
Jan
200 mm
Driest
Aug
11 mm
Rain / yr
885 mm
118 wet days
Daylight
10.8–13.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
55 m
19.6°S
Clearest
Sep
28% cloud

Dondo is city in Sofala province, Mozambique.

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

Dondo 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 mid September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Dondo stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is November, with an average high of 32°C and low of 22°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 16°C and high of 26°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)
Jan3124
Feb3123
Mar3023
Apr2921
May2818
Jun2616
Jul2616
Aug2817
Sep3018
Oct3120
Nov3222
Dec3223

How hot and cold Dondo 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, Dondo feels like about 37°C (around December 29). About 189 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in December.

15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan36312324
Feb35312323
Mar34302323
Apr31292021
May29281818
Jun26261616
Jul26261616
Aug28281617
Sep31301818
Oct33312020
Nov35322222
Dec36322323

Average hourly temperature in Dondo

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 32°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 16°C.

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

Dondo 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° / 24°20019.813.13.4
Feb31° / 23°1571712.73.6
Mar30° / 23°1181712.14.2
Apr29° / 21°5210.811.65.7
May28° / 18°194.811.17.5
Jun26° / 16°144.210.88.0
Jul26° / 16°175.310.97.9
Aug28° / 17°113.411.37.6
Sep30° / 18°153.611.96.0
Oct31° / 20°255.912.55.0
Nov32° / 22°781012.93.9
Dec32° / 23°17815.713.23.6

Chance of rain

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

Dondo gets about 885 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 5.1 months, from around Nov 14 to Apr 17, peaking in January at about 65% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 31.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 200 mm over about 20 wet days; August is the driest, with 11 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 17 · 65%Aug 31 · 10%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6320
Feb6117
Mar5417
Apr3511
May175
Jun154
Jul165
Aug113
Sep124
Oct196
Nov3310
Dec5116

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Dondo collects about 885 mm of rain across 118 wet days — roughly 74 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 200 mm, while August is the driest at just 11 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 60% of the year’s total.

050100150200250JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec2001571185219141711152578178
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan20020
Feb15717
Mar11817
Apr5211
May195
Jun144
Jul175
Aug113
Sep154
Oct256
Nov7810
Dec17816

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Dondo, 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 6 and lasts for 7.1 months, ending around November 6. The clearest month is August, 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 7 and lasts for 4.9 months, ending around April 5. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 53% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 5 · 89%Jan 8 · 45%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4753
Feb5347
Mar6436
Apr7921
May8812
Jun8416
Jul8317
Aug8812
Sep8614
Oct8020
Nov6337
Dec4852

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 13 h 12 min of light; the shortest, around June 10, 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)
Jan13.15:186:22
Feb12.75:366:16
Mar12.15:475:55
Apr11.65:555:28
May11.16:055:10
Jun10.86:175:06
Jul10.96:195:14
Aug11.36:055:25
Sep11.95:395:32
Oct12.55:125:40
Nov12.94:585:55
Dec13.25:026:13

Sunny days

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

Dondo averages about 15 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 8 and 22 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.8 months, from around Apr 14 to Nov 7. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 21 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is December, down near 9 sunny days — about 60% fewer than the September peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantSep 722 daysDec 208 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan8Mixed
Feb8Mixed
Mar11Mixed
Apr16Bright
May21Bright
Jun19Bright
Jul18Bright
Aug21Bright
Sep21Bright
Oct19Bright
Nov13Mixed
Dec9Mixed

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 8.0 months, from around September 20 to May 19. 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 20 to September 19, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 53% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 16 · 56%Jan 1 · 0%miserablehumidmuggyoppressivecomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan001126028
Feb000106723
Mar001196514
Apr011349343
May212414140
Jun733471200
Jul94441600
Aug735451400
Sep217413730
Oct152649190
Nov021237473
Dec014235518

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.

Wind in Dondo is steady company: average speeds sit near 9 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeOct 16 · 11 km/hMay 18 · 8 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan9calm
Feb9calm
Mar9calm
Apr9calm
May8calm
Jun8calm
Jul9calm
Aug10calm
Sep11calm
Oct11calm
Nov10calm
Dec9calm

Hazard calendar for Dondo

In seasonPeak

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

Dondo sits in the South Indian Ocean cyclone belt; the season peaks January–March.

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

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

Best time to visit Dondo

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 14 · 8.0

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
Feb3.6fair
Mar4.2fair
Apr5.7good
May7.4good
Jun8.0ideal
Jul7.9ideal
Aug7.5ideal
Sep6.0good
Oct4.9fair
Nov3.9fair
Dec3.6fair

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 Dondo for hot-weather activities is from mid April to early November, with a peak score in the first week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 1 · 8.7

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 Dondo, 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 32°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 26°C), pack light clothes.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In November, Dondo sees daytime highs around 32°C and nights near 22°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 10 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Dondo

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 33 km away) is warmest in February at about 30°C and coldest in July near 23°C.

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

25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecrefreshingwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan29Tropical
Feb30Tropical
Mar29Tropical
Apr28Warm
May26Warm
Jun24Warm
Jul23Refreshing
Aug23Refreshing
Sep25Warm
Oct26Warm
Nov28Warm
Dec29Tropical

UV index (midday) in Dondo 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 Dondo peaks around January 16 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 19 at about 6 (high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highHighVery highExtremeJan 16UV 14Jun 19UV 6
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar13Extreme
Apr9Very high
May8Very high
Jun6High
Jul7High
Aug8Very high
Sep9Very high
Oct12Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Dondo

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 8.5 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)
Jan8.57
Feb8.56.5
Mar86
Apr75
May63.5
Jun5.51.5
Jul62.5
Aug6.53.5
Sep74.5
Oct86
Nov8.56.5
Dec8.56.5

Air quality in Dondo 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 Dondo is worst in October — around 41 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 5.7× the cleanest month (January, 7 µg/m³).

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModeratePoorModerateGoodOct 1140 µg/m³Jan 17 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan7Good
Feb8Good
Mar8Good
Apr10Good
May14Moderate
Jun19Moderate
Jul29Moderate
Aug37Poor
Sep38Poor
Oct41Poor
Nov18Moderate
Dec7Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Dondo 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. Dondo banks about 5,388 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

02,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan539
Feb480
Mar509
Apr442
May398
Jun337
Jul332
Aug377
Sep430
Oct491
Nov515
Dec539

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.

Dondo receives about 5.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.7 and 6.4 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.6 months, from around Sep 1 to Mar 20. The brightest month is November, averaging about 6.3 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 3.9 kWh/m² — roughly 39% less than the November peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseNov 106.4 kWhJul 33.7 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.8Bright
Feb5.6Bright
Mar5.3Bright
Apr4.8Bright
May4.3Bright
Jun3.8Moderate
Jul3.8Moderate
Aug4.7Bright
Sep5.6Bright
Oct6.1Intense
Nov6.3Intense
Dec6.0Intense

Where is Dondo?

Dondo sits at 19.6°S, 34.7°E, 55 m above sea level, in Mozambique. The nearest listed city is Beira, 28 km away.

GorongosaGondolaChimoioMessicaMarromeu

Topography around Dondo

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Dondo has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 38 m around an average of 45 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 90 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 303 m.

The land around Dondo is covered by grassland (51%) and trees (24%) within 3 km, grassland (67%) within 16 km, and grassland (39%), trees (28%) and water (20%) within 80 km.

3 km
38 m
16 km
90 m
80 km
303 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetlandmangroves
Nearby: Beira 28 km · Búzi 40 km · Nhamatanda 67 km · Gorongosa 125 km · Gondola 129 km · Chimoio 143 km · Messica 187 km · Marromeu 194 km

Mozambique travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / F / M
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 37% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$627
2025
Happiness
5.3 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
28%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
3.6
per 100k, 2011
Road deaths
30
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Low
EF EPI 465
Religion
Catholic 27%Islam 19%Pentecostal 17%Saio/Zione 16%

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 Dondo (-19.6094°, 34.7431°, elevation 55 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).